The World Spins Without You
by TheLostDayDreamer
Summary: In a parallel non magical universe, Agent 22 was not paired with Scrooge on her mission and Donald doesn't take them to the McDuck Mansion. Their lives not centered around Scrooge McDuck's amazing adventures and lessons, how are they and the rest of town different? Violence and stuff later on but not too graphic, T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1: Life is Like a Hurricane

Some secrets should not be revealed, and some mysteries should not be solved, because an adventurous life is like a hurricane. It's chaotic and exciting, until all you know is left destroyed in its wake.  
This is the conclusion Webby's grandma had come to when Webby turned 16. That was the same year her grandma finally retired from her job in "private defense affairs", as she liked to call it and they had bought their house in Northville, a quiet little town with excellent crime rates. With the amount of savings Mrs. Beakley had accumulated over the years she was able to support both of them for a very long time. However, every bird has to someday fly from their nest and make their own.

Webby, being homeschooled by Mrs. Beakley, had excelled in her statewide testing and was offered many scholarships, some of which had sister schools or transfer programs overseas. Webby specifically was bent on going to a school with a proficient science and language program, one of her options being in Spain. Mrs. Beakley, of course, shot down the idea in an instant. There was absolutely no way she would subject Webby to complete isolation overseas with no emergency contacts. However, Webby was undeterred, taking Spanish tutoring with Mr. Crackshell, the Spanish teacher at the local high school, simulating full immersion by only watching Spanish TV shows or reading Spanish subtitles for a month straight, and even went to the length of starting to tutor other kids around the she was good at Webby's college years quickly approaching, Mrs. Beakley made a hard decision.

"Webbigail...I was thinking about your idea,"  
Webby Vanderquack looked up from her already soggy cereal, spinning her spoon indifferently in the mush.  
Many different ideas shot their way across Webby's mind quickly, until her brain turned up blank.

"Well, which one?" She questioned.

"Webby, I don't think you should go to college just yet. I think, you should consider a gap year." Webby immediately dropped her spoon back in the bowl with a clang.

"Granny! But why! I'm completely ready for this you know I am!" Webby countered worriedly. When her grandmother's mind was completely made up, there was no going back. "I've..I've been working so hard..."

"Now don't go jumping to conclusions. You are very capable, don't think I don't know that." Webby looked down at her soupy cereal and stirred, dejected. " I was thinking that before you go and fly across the world unprepared we might do ..." Mrs. Beakley pulled some glossy looking papers from behind her back and placed them on the table. "Some traveling?" Webby's eyes widened in shock as she saw the map and the brochures. She pinched herself on the arm once. But just to make sure she did it twice. Well...one more time.

"Webbigail please stop pinching your arm, you'll make a bruise..."

"No way! Jekyll island! Bus tour of Route 66!" She gasped as she saw the bigger brochure under the rest!" best overseas vacation spots!? There's one right next to The University of Salamanca!"

I figured that we would start out small, travel around the country first, then we take some trips overseas, and possibly...if i'm not still against you going...i help you get settled in college."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS GRANNY!? Oh my...Gracias, gracias, MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS" She rocketed from her seat, hugging her tightly. "Te quiero mucho…"

"Webbigail, inside voice… and, de nada "She returned the hug, using what she learned from Webby and two years of Spanish in high Webby finally let go, she sat down and pushed her cereal aside, laying the brochures out.

"So, where to first!" she bounced childishly in her chair, the excess energy beginning to be too much to contain.

"Well, since we're starting small, how about…" Mrs. Beakley circled her fingers around their town, trying to find a good spot on the map.

"Here! We have to go here!" Webby pointed to a small town and searched for the brochure that she had seen amidst the piles. Mrs. Beakley looked squeamishly at that spot on the map.

"Webby, i'm not so sure that…"

"It's exactly where the adventuring excavator and archaeologist Scrooge McDuck first made his mark on America!" She stood up with the brochure in her grasp and a gleam in her eyes. "against all struggles and hardships, he was able to change the world and rewrite history!"

"Scrooge McDuck, a fine asset to the archeology community and a blessing to museums everywhere," she rolled her eyes, "though, I heard he was a bit unruly and stubborn."

"That's what made him a great explorer! He wouldn't take no for an answer." Webby hugged the map and brochures to her chest like her life depended on it.

"Well, That's one thing you both have in common."

"So, can we go?" Webby bounced on the balls of her feet. Mrs. Beakley looked down at the brochure, crinkled by Webby's grasp, and back at Webby. She sighed.

"Fine, we leave May 31st."

*Muchisimas gracias= thank you so much, thank you very much.  
De nada = You're welcome  
Te quiero mucho= (Hou you say i love you to family or friends, platonic)l love you so much, I love you a lot  
Can you tell i'm a spanish student lol. All things that don't make sense now will be explained later in the story, but feel free to comment your feedback or questions...note that I said FEEDBACK and not HATE. But as always, opinions are allowed just be respectful dudes, dudettes and everyone in between, and then it's all chill. Also if you spot a typo just say the context and stuff and i'll totally change it. Thanks for reading!

*= Edited from how it was originally written, thanks for the tip!


	2. Chapter 2: Here in Duckburg

OOf...So,I realized just as I posted the first chapter how short (and kinda bland) that it was and i'm just like...dude, you were three whole pages on google docs (I know that still isn't a lot lol). I didn't really have anything to add to that chapter anyway. So sorry about that everyone *looks out into the audience, a whole one dust bunny watching* Anyway… I aimed to make this one longer because there's gonna be a lot going on this chapter and i 'm gonna try and make it interesting until it gets to the real adventurous part of the story.

…

And on May 31st they were off on their adventure around the globe, starting with Duckburg. Duckburg was a small ocean town separated from the rest of the U.S. by low mountains. Despite its size, tourists visit the many famous sites and landmarks of this densely populated, up and coming makes for a lot of traffic over the mountain pass as many travel from the more rural towns to the city.

"Uggh! This is going to take forever!" Webby slammed her head onto the rim of the steering wheel. She had patience, especially when going on a vacation, but just traffic specifically got on her nerves. There was always an easier, quicker way around, but in a car, you're confined to wherever the road is paved.

"We'll be late for all the tours at this rate," Mrs. Beakley said from the passenger's side, shuffling things around in her purse. "You checked into the hotel early right?"

"Yep! I got it covered. We just have to be there to check in by 4:00 at the latest or the room isn't guaranteed."

"Fair enough. It's about twenty till four right now and we're almost through the pass." She put her new phone back into her purse. "Once we get there, we check into the hotel and unpack. Then we drive over to the travel offices and take a tour if there are still some late ones available." Webby immediately got excited and started to bounce her free leg in the car. Finally, she would get to travel. Even though Duckburg was only a few hours away from Northville, under her grandmother's overly protective watch, she could only get as far as the library across town without her getting suspicious. Her grandmother knew all the routes she had to take and what time she should be home. For someone whose dream was to travel around the world, this was more than a bit suffocating. In all honesty, a tour sounded like just another schedule, but she decided to count her blessings. They eventually got through the pass and drove to the hotel guided by the GPS. The hotel was rated at four stars with stellar service, so they wouldn't be uncomfortable for a week. They went up to their rooms to put in their luggage as they valeted their car into the parking garage. They each had a room connected with a doorway with two doors that could be locked. Mrs. Beakley was willing to take baby steps when it came to Webby's independence. After they pulled into the parking garage after Mrs. Beakley checked in they made their way to the street.

And if Webbigail Vanderquack wasn't surprised before, she sure was now. Voices exploded once she stepped out onto the sidewalk, and she was called at attention. People swerved and scurried around her as she was caught up in the bustle of Duckburg on a weekday.

"Webby! Please focus, we need to get to the tourist agency." Mrs. Beakley pulled her along. "Happiness...overload.." She stared dreamily around at all of the people as Mrs. Beakley guided her along.

"Oh dear.." She groaned while rolling her eyes," How will you survive without me…" Webby giggled happily, unphased.

As they reached the front desk, they were met with a dog around Webby's age who greeted them kindly into the cramped office. The office was what Webby would call her room cleaning habits, A tad unorthodox form of organization" aka a complete mess. Two boys and an older girl were all preoccupied on the waiting chairs playing video games, surrounded with outdated fashion magazines. "Hello there! Please excuse the mess, we're in a bit of a moving slash organizing stage right now." She stepped out of the desk and over the paper stacks around her feet. "How can I help you?" Apparently, there was one evening tour left that took the eager tourists to Duckburgs most famous sites, memorials and activities that can be done around town in the evening, divided by a dinner at one of the more famous hometown restaurants in the older part of had never heard of having dinner with a tour group before, but the way it seemed from how they explained it there was an agreement with the tour company and the restaurant to support small businesses. Strange, to say the tour would meet at four thirty and end around seven. "Here! I have some small maps in back so you know the routes will be taking!" She then went to the back offices and closed the door a tad

"From the photos and reviews of this agency I would figures they had a larger, more…" he shifted some outdated travel magazines with her foot, "organized office space."

"C'mon granny please, you know how busy it gets in the summer, they probably just," She pushed a cardboard box of important looking files and manilla folders to the side. " got...busy?" She laughed nervously.

Mrs. Beakley of course didn't even acknowledge her argument. "Or we are at the wrong agency. If the real one is closed, we should go back to the hotel and order something from room service."

"No! Please!" Webby yelled a bit too loud, luckily the girl was still shuffling things around in back. "Um, we already are here, and this tour doesn't seem so bad, maybe it'll be fun! It could be a...quintessential point in our globetrotting adventures!" She changed her voice dramatically with a pleading look in her eyes. She was positive that this was not a formal tourism company and this tour was definitely not typical, she caved.

"You know that isn't how you use the word quintessential, Webby." Her eyes lit up again as she clasped her hands together.

"Thank you!"

She came out with the maps and the routes taken to get to the best of Duckburg, she quickly drew out the route in red sharpie and handed two maps to each of them.

Very...professional. Mrs. Beakley thought in slight disdain. Webby gave her a glaring look as if she had read her mind. She nodded in interest at the map to appease her granddaughter's glare. Webby smiled in approvement. Just in time, the girl's alarm started to go off.

"Well you all got here just in time!," she said cheerily, "We're about to load the…" She stalled for a moment and then continued "mode of transportation for this magical adventure! Follow me to the front everyone!" They both started to follow her to the front when she suddenly stopped and cleared her throat.

"Ahem! Guys?" she said to the pre-teens. She snapped in their directions. Nothing."Excuse me for a moment while I get my cousins, they'll be joining us on the tour today." She rolled up an old magazine and threw it at them and threw it at them. "Time to get! Let's go!" They mumbled and groaned as they followed her all they got to the front of the building, a big white van had pulled to the side of the road in front of them.

There is no way this is our transport… Mrs. Beakley thought as the window rolled down.

"who's ready for a Duckburg tour?" a kind, elderly aged dog said from the driver's seat. Seeing as the van had windows and the man did not have any markers of being a criminal type, Webby let out a Woo! in response and approached the van.

"What did you say?"

The girl smacked her cousins again with the magazine, gaining unenthusiastic cheers from all three of them as she lead them onto the bus. Surprisingly, the inside seemed brand new and well kept, though it was an older model. The girl sat up front with Webby and Mrs. Beakley behind them, and the three kids in the back.

"Hi grand- I mean qualified and appreciated employee! First stop, the founder's park!"

"Alrighty then, GPS? Go to shopping mart."

Sara groaned and put the route into the GPS for him. He had marvelous sight and dexterity, however his hearing was not the best. They pulled out into the street and onto the road, mrs beakley indifferently pulled out her map and counted the minutes until they got there. Webby leaned around the passenger's seat to the girl's face, she jumped back a little in shock.

"Hi! I'm Webby! What's your name?"

"Oh! Uh it's...Sara, Sara Dane. What's yours?" She stuck out her hand slightly, and Webby shook it vigorously.

"It's Webby, Webby Vanderquack!" she sat back in her seat before they both realized what had just happened and cringed.

Oohg. Nice one Vanderquack. Nice.

There was a gravid moment of silence.

"So...what brings you to Duckburg?" Sara asks turning around to look at her.

"Well, I'm going on vacation for three months before I start college. Gotta experience the real world before really leaving the nest ya know."

"Three months?"

"I'm going to school in Europe, it starts in September. And even then...I might take a gap year? It all depends I guess." Webby's voice dipped a bit when she mentioned taking a gap year. She really didn't want to wait, even if they gave her time to. I mean she knew what traveling and living abroad is like, all those YouTube videos couldn't be wrong… right?

"Well, it's good to have a general plan, but not something completely set in stone. Things can change pretty quickly. Trust me, I know." Webby nodded.

"So, what about you?"

"Right now I'm in college for robotics and engineering. It's pretty cool." She seemed like she wanted to say more. "but I love traveling, so I work here too. We're working on the vacation division of the business, but we're making progress."

"Cool! Maybe you can help us out with our vacation planning before we leave!" cleared her throat, still uncomfortable with te thought of even taking the tour. "That is if we need it."

"Sure." The car began to slow down in front of a well lit statue with a fountain surrounding it. "Attention everyone. If you look out of your left window you can see the statue of our founder, surrounded by a pool of water and sailing ships. Duckburg was founded…" She went into detail about the town's history and how Cornelius seized the town from the British soldiers. "Eventually, scrooge McDuck bought some land from the descendants of Cornelius and by popular opinion was one of the main causes of duckburgs renaissance."

"Wow, that's so awesome! He was also the one who re-did this statue when it was destroyed by vandals?"

"Correct, and-"

"He donated some of the rarest items from the war to the museum behind the statue!"

"Yes and-"

"Did you know he designed the history museum himself!"

"Yes! Who is taking the tour you or me!" Sara asked in frustration.

"Oh. Sorry, I just know a lot about Scrooge McDuck's adventures and discoveries."

"No problem, just don't steal my thunder!"

They stopped to take pictures, and walked up the hill to the history museum and some of the statues outside, since unfortunately touring the inside was not a part of the agenda or paid for. They then went to the observatory near the outside of town, which they could actually go inside, and the famous Cornelius library, filled with some of the most up to date and accurate books on ancient history, culture and more. All the way Webby was spewing fun facts about Scrooge McDuck's history, much to Sara's dismay, until it was finally time to go to dinner. The van pulled up to a quaint new orleans style restaurant, famous for its gumbo. Three beagles were waiting outside, and one of the kids in back looked up from their phone.

"UNCLE BIGGIE!" The youngest started crawling over his siblings and pushed his way around Webby to get out of the car.

"Corbin, calm down! Have some respect for our guests!" He managed to open the door and blew a raspberry at Webby and laughed.

"How rude!" Mrs. Beakley crossed her arms at the child, but he was already outside jumping into the arms of the man outside.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Beakley, he's a spoiled brat, but he should be better once he sits down to eat." She raised an eyebrow and unbuckled her seatbelt.

They all sat down at a two tables that had been conjoined together to seat ten and waited for the three employees to come back. From their greeting and hugs given they all seemed to be family. For Webby it was heartwarming to be with a big family talking and laughing with each other. However, Mrs. Beakley hadn't dropped her guard the entire time, and noticed something she hadn't.

"Webby, can we talk for a second?"

"Sure! What is it!" Webby said a bit too loudly. Sara looked inquisitively at them and then realized.

"Mrs. Beakley, you may not believe me, but you have nothing to worry about. They cut off all ties to Ma Beagle's clan, and…" She looked over at them, now arguing in the kitchen about who was supposed to be dishwashing. "They're like my family."

Webby chimed in, " I already realized who they were. I did all my research on crime rates and news coverage before we left. The "Original Classic" gang is no longer with the Beagle Boys or their organized crime. It's because they struck a public pact with Ma Beagle that ended their feud for good."

Beakley was still on edge, but glad Webby did her research. She still wouldn't be dining there anytime soon. Soon enough they came out with dinner buffet style, so that everyone got a bit of three kids and Sarah sat on one side. Then the Van driver, also known as Sara's Grandpa sat at the end of the two conjoined tables, Beakley sat at the other end and webby sat next to her and the three Beagle boys, Mrs. Beakley keeping a watchful eye the entire time. Unfortunately for these touring guests, Corbin was not satisfied with just eating his dinner and began throwing food at the oldest, still trying to hide her phone under the table. she suddenly stood up, shaking her placemat and almost tipping her water glass over.

"Corbin I'm gonna kill you!"

"Jasmine sit your behind back down right now! And Corbin so help me!" The two hooligans began to fight behind Sarah and Mrs. Beakley. The middle one had gotten hit from one of the poorly thrown pieces of food and joined in on the fight. Mrs. Beakley sprung into action as Sara struggled to pull them all apart.

Webby just laughed as Biggie, formerly known as Big Time, cheered them on.

"You used to havin' a big family?" he turned to Webby.

"Oh...no it's just my grandma and me. We don't really look for the rest of my family. Not that I can really find them."

"Well, I can tell ya. Family is a lot more than what's runnin' through ya veins. It's the people that care about cha." He gave her a knowing look. "Sometimes they tell ya your wrong when ya don't wanna hear it, or make sure you don't do things ya want to, because they care about cha. That's one of the things I learned from these hooligans especially."

"BIGGIE! ANYONE! Help me with these beasts!" Mrs. Beakley had caught the oldest one, while the other two were laughing and running around the restaurant.

"Fine, fine I'm coming!" suddenly the other two stood up and started running.

"Don't let them into the kitchen!" the only ones left at the table was Sara's grandpa and Webby.

"Hey, tell my grandma I went outside for a bit." He nodded and picked at his plate as the chaos continued. When the door closed behind her she sighed.

Grandma told her she thought it wasn't a good idea to go to college abroad. Yeah, she had never traveled abroad before, but whose fault was that!? Webby began to walk down the street, something she tended to do when she thought.

She wanted to spend a semester abroad in high school through a public school but she shot that down too. She hadn't even been out of the country before but she would always have to get her passport renewed. Which didn't help her forget! "everything you need is here!" she would always say. "

"But what about what I want! I want to travel! I want to discover things! I want to be how she used to be, solving cases, traveling the world! I want to meet new people, do something strange or crazy!" Webby thought.

"But I have to be safe, because I'M all she has. Hah!" She kicked a can and leaned against a fence. She had walked down the street a ways, fortunately not too far from the restaurant, to a kid's playground. " She gave me a chance to prove myself, but is that even going to be enough? For once I just want to..."

"Do something for myself? Be alone? Record my inner monologue in peace and quiet? Tell me about it." Webby jumps and turns towards the voice.

"Who goes there! I know three types of self defense, pepper spray, and a hot pink sparkly taser!"

"Woah hoho wait a minute there friend!" the silhouette unhooked his legs from the monkey bars and came out of the shadows, Webby still in her defensive position. "No need to go 'tasey' on me!" The young duck about her age laughed at his own terrible pun. She lowered her guard.

"Ok, if your puns are that bad you can't be a real threat. All real villains are prepared with artisanally crafted puns for any possible situation." She crossed her arms knowingly

"Excuse me!" he yelled offended, walking over to the fence and climbing over. "That pun was on the fly AND used some item from the specific scene. So yes, it was a good pun."

"I've heard better." Webby shook her head at him in fake disappointment. He was wearing a blank blue shirt and black jeans with converse. He had no markers suggesting that he was from a gang, and his closed looked on the neat side. He looked fairly normal besides his old timey cassette tape recorder. "And you said you were recording your inner monologue. What?" he blushed at the thought of her actually hearing that part, he stuck the tape recorder in his back pocket.

"Yep, I needed a rustic setting with calm background noises for my thoughts to be recorded. It brings a certain ambience, to the ideas involved." He made a dramatic hand gesture in the air and looked at her. "But unfortunately somebody else's inner monologue totally ruined it. I mean," he grabbed her by the shoulder and motioned at the direction of the sky in dramatic wonder, "a young woman's pining for her star-crossed lover named adventure? How can I top that!"

"I said that all out loud…?" Webby winced.

"I could hear you from up the street!" He laughed, "Anyway, I get how you feel, to a degree. Being stuck where you are and being who you are, not being able to change anything…" He tapped his foot and and leaned on the fence. She looked back at him, he definitely wasn't dangerous. If anything he was as dangerous as she was. And yes, she was pretty dangerous. But like in all of the clone movies she snuck back from the library, the good one always won anyways.

"You know what. We're going on an adventure. You and me!" he looked up.

"What? You were trying to pepper spray and or tase me earlier!"

"So what? You were the one who kept talking to me! Let's go!" She grabbed his arm and led him down the street.

"Wait! Hold on! What's your name?!"

"The harbinger of Odyssey!"

"What?!"

…

THAT'S A LOTTA DAMAGE, as the flex tape man would say. (I'm not looking up this guy's name so deal with it) But what i mean to say is that there was a TON of stuff that happened with this chapter, as well as some OCs and stuff, (i know i suck) who will come into play later. Everything is for a reason, even if that reason is at the very end of this story that I might put on hiatus forever because life (X/). But you all are finally going to see some canon characters in the show besides Mrs. Beakley, Webby and the Beagle boys so yay!You can guess who this guy is at the end obviously, and just in case I totally botched his basic character I threw in a blue shirt because i'm a GENIUS.

I already have some ideas for chapter three underway so more garbage coming your way fast so be ready to dodge it or catch it lol. Also this is totally up for revision or editing advice. And if i ever do edit a chapter, i will post the next chapter with a note to see if you read the edited one with said date and all that. But really editing probably won't do much to the plot I have in mind so no worries.

See you all down in the comments!


	3. Chapter 3: Race Cars

Hi guys, its been a while. I'm actually supposed to be writing an essay right now but whatever bro i need to be happy. More notes about what's poppin' after this chapter, so start reading!

She sprinted, dragging him down the street and around the corner. He was sure she had some supernatural power, because even after all the sports he had played in high school, he still couldn't break out of her grip or slow her down.

"Woah! I really need to train more, I'm getting out of shape!"

"P-Please slow down for a second." Dewey was doubled over trying to take deep breaths. "Two things, first, who. **are**.you!?" He pointed panting.

"Webbigail, but please, call me Webby!" she held out her hand for a hand shake. He took it, still surprised.

"Uh, Dewey, Dewey Duck." That name sounded familiar, though, Duck was a very common last name in this area.

"Nice to meet you, let's go!" Webby started pulling him along again,not about to be stalling around where her grandmother might spot her. "No time to waste!" Since he was now stopped as well as hanging onto the building beside them, she was not able to pull him away.

"And second! We don't need to run," Dewey put his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, I literally have no idea where i'm going." she laughed energetically.

"Well ok, and there's also the fact that I parked my car up the street." Webby stared with a blank face, embarrassed at the fact she rushed into all of this.

"Right, of course, cars..." She face palmed herself. "Sorry."

"No problem."

…

"Is that a Bentley!?" She ran up close and examined it. Dewey's car was easily one of the nicest cars she had seen in real life ever. And that was even after she had seen Mr. Crackshell's mini cube car. Well, actually it was a rental he had for a day until he somehow managed to crash it parallel parking. Dewey's car was much more spacious, not to mention, a freaking electric blue convertible. Webby was about to die.

" 2017, bentley, GT V8 CONVERTIBLE!" She jumped around the car like a little kid on Christmas. Dewey didn't know how to react to this situation. He was used to people commenting about his car, but Webby was the only one who actually knew what it was besides it being "Fancy rich kid car".

"Uh, yep."

"Oh my goooosh, I've wanted to test drive one of these ever since they mentioned it coming out!" She neared the driver's side door. Dewey immediately stepped in before she got anywhere near the driver's seat of his car.

"Nope! Absolutely not. My baby, my rules." Webby frowned. "Rule one, crazy people don't drive my baby."

"What! I was just saying. And I DO know how to drive ya know!"

"Doesn't matter, I drive. You sit." She blew a raspberry at him.

"Just unlock the car so we can blow this popsicle stand!"

He raised his eyebrow at her childish saying, and opened the car door. He was beginning to wonder what in the world he had gotten himself into.

…

They were going down the street a ways when she finally started up a conversation again.

"Well since i'm only visiting here, I don't really know any cool places."

"No problem, I got some in mind. Get ready for an adventure of a lifetime" He smiled, glad to have someone interesting to hang out with, even if the circumstances were absolutely insane. Silence filled the car again. _Greaaat...this is_ _ **so**_ _fun…_ Webby thought.

"Can...I put on the radio?" She said awkwardly, hand halfway to the knob anyway.

"Knock yourself out." She searched for one of her favorite channels back home. Granny hated it so much she had even tried to destroy her radio. Unfortunately for her she was an expert at hiding things.

One of the major hits from the summer started blasting on the radio. A remix of one of the most insanely popular summer songs from the late 90's started to blare through the car's speakers. "Summer time a Lovin', lovin' in the summertime! Summer time a lov-"

"No, no, absolutely not. That is an abomination to the remix and pop industry. I will not have that garbage tainting my car's speakers."

"Are you kidding me! All mainstream music is an abomination, with all that propaganda and jazz. But it sounds so good and it's almost over!" Webby yelled annoyed and pleading. He gave a weird look out the window as he turned off the radio.

"Nope, rule two. Driver has dibs on the radio. And I choose to shut this off so my speakers can rest." He patted the car's dash lightly, as if to console it. Webby shook her head, though she couldn't be one to judge, she was absolutely judging him at this point.

 _What the heck have I gotten myself into..._ As she was beginning to regret this strange situation and was about to think about how many wrong ways this whole thing could go,until she remembered some key facts that could turn this thing around. She rummaged through her small purse. _Phone, wallet, keys, aux cord, sunglasses...wait a_

Dewey was actually wrong. Shotgun gets first pick. Especially if they already have an aux cord.

She sneakily pulled out her phone and put everything on silent notifications, ignoring the texts that she had gotten. She plugged in her aux cord into the phone and pulled up her music seemed more docile at the moment, staring blindly forward at the road.

 _Going live in 3...2…_ She plugged in her aux cord which automatically turned on the radio and played the first song in her list. Dewey immediately shot up in his seat and came to a screeching halt at the stoplight.

"No… no way…" Dewey covered his face.

Webby saw his fingers unintentionally tapping to the beat. It was working.

 _You can disc-! You can co-o! Go be a part of the show!~_

"What did I say about music choice in my car!"

"Well Dewey Duck. According to ..."

"There is seriously a website for that?" He was still jiving to the tune slightly as he asked.

"Yes, according to , **shotgun** gets dibs on the first song. If it's bad, they relinquish control to the driver. **After** the song is finished." Dewey made a pained gesture, he couldn't resist it much longer.

 _See that girl, on the floor,_

 _Diggin' the Disco Girl!_

"Saturday and the lights are bright!" Webby began to sing and dance with the beat, poking him as he pushed the gas pedal."Hoping that it all goes...right!"

"Please stop," She laughed and sang more

"When they play the good music,"

"No."

"You get in the 've come to look for a dude! Do do do!" she air punched as she vocalized the last three notes.

"Seriously, I will…"

 _Anybody can be that man!_

 _Night is young and the music's grand!_

 _With a bit of pop music_

 _Everything's cool but_

 _You're in the mood to go!_

 _But when they start that show..._

"There is the disco girl!" She chimed in again "Comin through"

"THAT GIRL IS YOU!"He screamed suddenly, startling Webby a bit, making her laugh.

 _That is some serious BABBA repression._ she thought, but that didn't stop her from joining him.

"Disco girl! Feel the groove running throu-ooh you! Oh yeah!" Dewey had fully caved and cranked up the radio full blast up until they parked at their first stop. He waited until the last songs were finished and shut the car off. He turned off the car and turned towards her.

"We do not speak of this to anyone." He stared at her intensely as she lifted an eyebrow. " This never happened." He opened the door and they both got out from their parking space.

"There's nothing wrong with liking BABBA." Webby said matter of factly. "They're freaking amazing!"

"Yeah... **I** know that. But others don't…" He hesitated, locking up the car. "appreciate them like we do. You're honestly the first person i've met who knows I like BABBA."

"Hm...exposing secrets to strangers," Webby commented playfully. "Doesn't seem that smart."

"No connections means nobody to tell…" He crossed his arms and they began to walk to the main building. "Unless we've actually met before…"

" Hah! I think I'd remember you," Dewey smiled at that thought. It wasn't every day you got a compliment from a slightly intimidating stranger that dragged you into driving around Duckberg with them...

 _Does that count as having Stockholm syndrome?_

"I mean you have a Bentley! I haven't ever seen one this nice in my life!" He frowned.

 _Good to know I'm appreciated._

"When they made it to a few yards from the entrance he paused dramatically when they were a few yards away . " Our first stop on this oddly adventure is…" He motioned for a drumroll from her, but she didn't seem to understand at first.

"A go kart track. It says it on the building, Dewey." She motioned before the establishment.

"...it was for dramatic effect. You're supposed to do a drumroll and then I present where we are."

"Oh...I was wondering why people did that in shows…" He gave her a strange look, _probably doesn't get out much or something._

They entered the building and signed the liability waiver and split the pay for one race on a smaller, separate track to start off.

"Have you ever been go kart racing?" Dewey said, fidgeting with his helmet before putting it on.

"No, we don't really have places like this where I am. I mean some kids around had Go Karts but Granny didn't let me because she said they were 'redneck hooligans' and a 'bad influence'."

"Hm." Dewey mumbled. "Well I think you'll like this, it's basically just like driving in a circle and you race other people to the finish. This is a pretty slow racing area so it's good for beginners."

"Sounds fun!" She replied, putting on her helmet. Once they were all suited up the jumped into their selective carts.

"So you look up at the screen and it will tell you when you should slam on the gas!"

"Yep, got it." they both strapped into the go karts and on cue, the picture showed up on screen.

 _Are you ready to race!_

 _Starting in 3…_

 _2…_

 _1…_

Dewey rocketed down the track, almost leaving her in the dust. Before he had gotten far he realized she was behind.

"Dewey! What's the speed limit here?"

"What?" he yelled in confusion "pull up a little bit."She slowly drove up and stopped beside him."There aren't any speed limits. You basically get to the end as fast as you can. The only rules are that you shouldn't hit the edges or other racers."

"So, I can go as fast as I want…" she had a strange tone to her voice that scared him a bit.

"yeah...that's what's so fun about it!"

"I'll let you get a head start." he looked at her with an eyebrow cocked.

"Are you sure? Most people don't win their first race, especially when they give people a head start."

"Trust me, you're gonna need it." He smirked a bit, scoffing.

"If you insist…" he began to drive leisurely until he heard a menacing Vroom behind him. Maybe he should have taken that head he could even regret his decision she was down the racetrack in a flash. Dewey immediately slammed on the gas pedal to try and gain on her. She was incredibly fast, agile even. He began to gain on her.

"I thought you said you haven't been racing!" Dewey yelled from the side, trying to pass her.

"I haven't! I just know how to drive!" she smiled and maneuvered around him.

"Who taught you how to drive?!"

They made their way around the track, Webby taking the first lap by a couple of yards. He leveled out with her on the track.

"Webby, Webby, Webby...it isn't all about being fast you know." He had a devilish look in his eye. Webby ignored it and kept her speed. "Sometimes it takes…" he tried to cut her off again. She immediately slowed and zoomed down to the far side and through the next turn away from him.

"Technique? I know, do you?" she cackled as she made her getaway.

 _Dang… maybe I really should have let her drive._

a couple more times until the race was over, Webby won every time.

" You are such a liar. You've been karting and I know it!" he pointed at her accusingly.

"No, I'm dead serious!" she waved her hands in protest. "I was taught to drive like that if I ever had to evade someone. It was part of my defense training with my granny!"

"You expect me to believe that a frail elderly woman taught you how to drive like you're in Fast and Furious?" Webby held in a big laugh.

"I think you need to meet my granny…"she smiled, but then her smile fell.

 _I'm gonna be so dead...I should tell her where I am._ She could've made up something at the very beginning, but even over text she could barely stomach it.

"Webby! You wanna do some more races or should we go?" she shoved her thoughts aside. _Later…I'll explain everything...just later..._

"One more and then we'll get going."

Oof, When I first posted I forgot to make an authors note on a couple of things. So this little adventure takes place over a three chapter thing. I did want to publish them all together, but it seemed too much for my average length so I divided it into sections. This one is shorter than my other one and I haven't been go karting in forever so I had limited resources on how all that actually works. I don't get out much haha, social situations are not my thing. so this is the first chapter thing, and you can guess what is happening in the next chapter. As always, feel free to correct grammar, punctuation, or details that seem out of place. See you in the comments!


	4. Chapter 4: Lazers

This is part two of their little adventure around town. There are some mentions of some new characters, which may appear later or not, and one canon to the actual ducktales universe. Not sure if he'll appear on the 2017 show. In any case, happy reading!

With one quick race that Dewey almost won and a car ride later, they had made it just in time to, "Funzo's arcade!" Webby yelled at the sight of the sign in front of her. "I've heard of this place! It's one of the best rated arcades on the east coast. Didn't this place close down once before because some kid got lost in the ball pit?" Even with her question about the shadiness of the company, she still had childlike excitement. They continued their walk down the dock towards the establishment.

"Yeah, but that wasn't just because of the ball pit, once the health inspectors took another look around the place there was so much other stuff going on."

"Woah...intriguing. I love a good mystery." She rubbed her hands together with a wily grin.

"Well, I doubt they would have any of that old stuff. They rebuilt a lot of it and if they kept their name it couldn't have been that bad."

She grunted in disappointment, hands dropping to her sides. "But...even without thrilling hazards to health, i'm guessing they still have some super cool games right?"

"You know it!" Dewey said, taking out his wallet from his back pocket. He pulled out a platinum colored card with the words Funzo's platinum in a cursive like font . "When I was a kid working a part time job here, I basically blew my entire paycheck on games."

"And I'm also guessing you still do based on that rewards card you have?" He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully.

"Well, my savings now are just a tiny bit bigger than it was when I was just working there. So, I can handle it without going broke." She did a double take for a second. Dewey Duck, based on how he looked at that moment, seemed like your average college age student. But add on the Bentley and premium card for one of the most popular, (and therefore expensive) arcades ever, and you have something completely confusing, and slightly intimidating. _I barely even know this guy, nobody knows where I am. It would be so easy for something to.._.

"Uh, Webby…" He snapped, bringing her back from her thoughts. "Earth to Webby...Weberino... Webster."

She shooed his hand away.

"Don't call me Webster…" she said, her eyebrows still furrowed in thought and her eyes far away.

"Sorry, you were uh…" He fidgeted nervously, like a person on trial. "staring at me for like a solid minute." Her face flushed in embarrassment as she shook herself awake.

"Sorry! Sorry, just thinking about something. Don't worry about it, It's not about you." She lied, still feeling a bit on edge.

"Ok good, just so you know I'm not a serial killer or anything." He laughed. She smiled back. A familiar voice popped into her head, _Webby, this is the first chance you've had to make an actual friend. If you want to go with how many things are scary then you might as well stay at grandma's forever!_

A voice more similar to her own added on. _And it's not like I'm going into this empty handed. I've had YEARS of self defense training. I think I can hang out with whoever I want and be fine._

"You know, I bet that a serial killer would say that exact same thing.." She gave him a dramatic, sceptical look.

"Well maybe you're the serial killer." he said with an even more intense look back. After getting through the restaurant area into the arcade division of Funzo's, they found out quickly that their debate was going nowhere. Webby finally was able to take in, or try to take in, the gigantic room of flashing colors and sounds.

"Woah...it's so much more beautiful than I could have imagined." Her eyes went wide trying to take in all the details. Dewey held in a laugh, but he knew what she was talking about. The first time he ever went into the new funzos, his brothers had used all of their strength trying to drag him back out. Which reminded him, _Right, need to text Louie before I get home. If he even responds, that is._ He made a mental note and got back to reality.

"Have you ever been to an arcade before, or played any videogames?"

"Not exactly. Once my Grandma and I had to go to the laundromat to do laundry after I had broken the washing machine. I was usually not allowed to play video games, but that time I was allowed to play Pac man. Does that count?" In order not to be rude, he turned around and fumed slightly about how much she was deprived of.

"Webby, I have much to teach you. So, so much to teach you." he took her by the shoulder and led her into the mess of blinking lights and screaming preteens. Thus beginning their reign over the arcade. Dewey started with one of his favorites where he beat his all time high score and kept his place at the top. After mastering a couple more games they had gained a following. The group of kids followed him to every game watching him play against his less skilled friend. Then they began to fan out towards the more action packed games like racing and shoot em' up. Then they all cheered for Webby who annihilated Dewey in every single one. After a while the screaming kids negan to file out since it was starting to get late. As Dewey and Webby quickly raced from the combat games to another section was when it was all over...

"Dewey, DeweyDeweyDeweyDeweyDewey…" she grabbed him by the back of the shirt and pulled him back. " What...is that…" Webby pointed in awe. The sign blinked with neon colors and the dark curtains enclosing the entrance intrigued her even more.

"Laser tag, one of the coolest non videogame games ever to exist. You basically have a gun a **Fake. Gun,** " He emphasized fearfully with two hands. She rolled her eyes at him " that shoots a harmless laser, and everyone who wears a vest has spots where you try and tag them. If you get tagged then you're out and can't tag anyone else. Basically, you try and stay 'alive' for as long as you can and try and tag people. And if they have enough people they usually have teams. "

There was a deep silence between them, she stared at the blinking sign

"Do, do you wanna…"

"We're so gonna play." She dragged him in before he could even agree.

"Cool by me, I guess?" he gained back his footing. _Man, my arm is starting to hurt._

"Let's suit up!" Webby hastily put her jacket on and clipped the straps shut "So what's your backstory gonna be?"

"Backstory? I mean, I dunno, usually people don't do that." He said weakly, trying not to burst her bubble.

"Really...oh." If he could have looked twice he would have seen she was a bit embarrassed, but she quickly shook it off. "Well i'm gonna be grizzled ex special forces, pulled out of retirement to exact revenge." Dewey gave a critical look mixed with fear...

"Right... but if we form an alliance or team, what would I be?"

"I dunno, you figure it out." she waved him off as a slightly offended look appeared on his face. A door opened next to the laser tag room opened and a slightly annoyed chicken walked out.

"Hey! You have to wait until the round is over to-" He caught sight of Dewey and he grinned. "Dewey! My main man!" The young rooster turned to Dewey and they did a strange handshake. Webby only watched as they carried on their conversation, even as they were finishing their elaborate one handed greeting.

"Giggy! I didn't know you had a shift now! You don't have work tomorrow do you?"

"And miss the big bash, you wish loverboy!" Webby looked away at this point. A party? She didn't know if she was disappointed or relieved that she hadn't been invited. But really, why would he invite her, they had never met before now. They finished punches him on the shoulder. He looks to the side at Webby, who stares awkwardly back. "Who's this?"

"She's-" Dewey began but Webby gushed and she stepped forward with her arm out.

"I'm Webby! Dewey's showing me around town. We met at a-." Dewey interrupted by laughing awkwardly and pushing her away lightly.

"Yeah, aha, what a funny predicament that was. But enough about that now, I think the round is almost over." Webby gave him a confused glare, furrowing her put her rejected handshake hand into her jean pocket. Giggy looked down at his tablet and Dewey was right.

"Yep, and right after the round is over you can pick up the vests.I have to reset the system first. But I dunno how fun it'll be with just you two in there."

"What! You should come play for a round! Where's Cindy, she can cover for you right?"

"Too busy flirting with the guy running the prize stand." Giggy said in disdain. Webby saw he was obviously interested in her They both gave a grimace and said his name in unison, "Tony."

"But, I bet if you invited them both to the party, then she might cover for me and..." He elbowed Dewey a few times. He saw right through him.

" I don't think she's the type of girl for you, just saying. But i'm only doing this so you can play with us. I don't really want to wait for a bunch of preteens to sign in and run around and do stupid stuff."

"Well, I guess that crosses you off the list, except for the preteen part."

Dewey rolled his eyes and sighed,"Alright i'll do it, you still need to make sure no kids are killing each other in there."He pointed at Giggy. He quickly pressed a couple of buttons on the pad and looked at the video footage. "Webby, you can stay with Giggy if you want." She immediately felt uncomfortable, but before she could think, she already had said sure.

"Cool, be right back." The waiting room was filled with a gravid silence, only filled with Giggy's taps on the Pad. he was the one to speak first.

"So, you're Webby. Got a last name?" Webby cringed a bit.

"Well, I usually don't give out my last name to can find out anything about a person these days." Giggy nodded in calm understanding, fixing his round glasses so they wouldn't fall off his face.

"No problem, I get it. You're probably one of the smart ones. So, where are you from," He asked again, but added in quickly. "That is, if you don't mind me asking."

"I'm from the outskirts of here a ways, not into the country but in a small town."

"Cool, so, what brings you to the big city anyway. School, vacation," He began listing the possibilities on one hand, still tapping on his tablet, not looking up.

"I'm taking a little trip across the country before going overseas for college.I'm studying foreign languages, maybe do some traveling around the world after." He immediately looked up with a smile.

"Wicked! I'm studying engineering at Duckburg university of sciences. Doesn't sound too fun compared to your thing, but I like it."

"That's awesome! I'd love to learn stuff like that, but there never seems to be enough time to learn everything!" Giggy nodded in appreciation at her enthusiasm.

"I like you, Webby. You're cool in my book."

"Thanks!" Dewey returned with an annoyed look on his face, with an equally annoyed Cindy following felt a little uncomfortable with her demeanor. Cindy was a tall, lean pigeon with an eyebrow piercing. She chewed loudly on her gum and took the tablet from Giggy's hand. She pushed a few buttons on the tablet and motioned for Giggy to give her the headset he was wearing. He fumbled a bit but finally got them off of his head and handed them over.

"Alright, time's up and round is over" She announced, similar to a broadcaster. " The scores for this round are being posted now. Congrats to gott2p…" She paused for that one, seeming to hate her job with a renewed passion. "And southbutte, for their tied scores." She turned off the headset. There was cackling from the inside of the game room. Webby suppressed a giggle at the immature humor.

"You guys really need to get rid of that feature." Dewey said, but not before smothering a chuckle.

" Really? You don't say." She popped her bubble gum and pressed a few more keys on the tablet. The kids in the group put up their stuff. " Alright, just the three of you?"

"Preferably." Dewey replied.

"Get the first three suits and type in your usernames on your respective vest holders. It will then correspond to your gun and vest and will be on the scoreboard at the end of the game." Dewey immediately swiped his card in the three slots.

" We already know all this, we'll save you the speech." Giggy waved cooly, trying to be smooth. He began to put on his vest. Webby tried to cut in, feeling a bit lost in all the conversation so far.

"Actually, i've never done this specifically, so-"

"Thanks a bunch, it's so annoying." Cindy gave him a quick, awkward grin, still smacking her gum. Giggy gave her a goofy grin while getting the first vest on the rack. Webby gave a lost look at Dewey who was typing in his username on the keypad. He motioned her over to him and she got the vest off the rack.

"Don't worry, just don't physically hit anyone, find a hiding place, and try not to get hit. Just like what I said before." Webby gave him a thankful smile and typed in her username.

"Oh, uh Cindy?" Webby said shyly. Cindy turned to her, popping a bubble. "Where should I put my purse?" Cindy stuck out her free hand and motioned for her to give it over.

"I'm going to the staff only room, I'll keep watch over it there." Webby took a sigh of relief and took her phone and wallet out.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver." Cindy gave her a thumbs up with her free face still devoid of any emotion except annoyance. Once everything was set up, all three of them made their way to the room.

"Oooh…" The room had some low volume EDM playing, and the room was dark. The neon lights and lasers protruding through the fog were one of the only sources of light besides the vests. The room had multiple places to hide or get a good vantage point. On the right far corner from where Webby had walked in, she immediately took sight if the tallest point, a small house separated by a ramp leading up to the opening, and the other side connected to a tunnel running forward into sets of walls made similar to a maze formation, probably to act as cover. The other side had similar concepts. A couple of small rooms leading up to another level at the same height as the other, and different areas for cover below it. It was set up more like a dueling area or a war between two kingdoms rather than a battle zone, in Webby's opinion.

Despite the underwhelming area, she was still ecstatic, and already formulating a plan in her head. The suits lit up different colors because they were on different teams. Dewey's was blue, Webby's was red and Giggy's was green.

"Alright, all three of us are on different teams, and since there are so few of us, every man for themselves. No alliances." Webby grinned evilly, obscured by the darkness of the area, nobody noticed.

"Thank you captain obvious for that. I'm going to find my spot now." Giggy walked away to get a head start. Once he was out of view, Dewey turned to Webby and held out his hand. "Shoot him first?"

She shook it. "Shoot him first."

"Alright everyone, if you haven't already, find your starting places. The round begins in 30 seconds!"

Webby ran one way while Dewey in another. The suits began to flash signifying the round was about to start. She made her way to the corner of the room and waited. There was an automated voice that began to count down

3…

2…

1…

The neon light flickered once it reached zero, and She sensed movement from the base of one of the towers in front of her. Webby inched away from the corner she was in. If she wanted to win, she needed to get on the offense. She took to the wall like a spider, inching along and surveying her surroundings. She had just made it to the top of the tower when the person who was at the top started to come back down. She hid on the side of the tower near the opening until she saw blue lights.

"Dewey!" she whispered loudly. He stopped around with his gun still in his hands.

"Webby! Giggy is in that other tower. Predictable." He said in a flat tone. "But my gun can't reach that far across the room. So we need to come up with a plan to distract him or get him down. Or maybe we can just storm him."Dewey preferred the last option, she could tell. But their best bet was to distract him, and someone sneaks up behind him on their way to the top. She began to calculate how fast someone could get to the top,when Dewey ran across the room without a second thought.

"Dewey,'' she whisper yelled "Dewey what the heck!" he made some sort of motion at her but she couldn't see what and he made his way up the tower. _Oh no..._

She began to enter the opening to the second tower, hoping that Giggy would either count on she didn't have a plan or that he didn't know that she would be out of range. Suddenly, she felt movement around her, someone racing from her left to her right behind her. She spun to see who it was, but the figure had turned the corner, and wasn't any light from a vest. _What the..._

"Agh Mother of Francis?! Dewey!" Giggy yelled from the tower. Dewey cackled evilly. Webby tried to catch her breath. "You're next Webby! You're next!" Dewey said playfully. She tried to follow where the person might have gone across the room, but she heard Dewey's footsteps coming down from the crawled to the front of the tunnel, where the entrance to the base of the tower was, and waited. This would give her enough cover for the time being. Dewey walked down surveying his surroundings with each step. Webby waited for him to turn the corner. _One more step...now._ She shot the lazer at his jacket and it flashed, signifying that he'd been hit.

"Aw what!" Dewey explained in disappointment as he looked around. She crawled out of the tunnel to meet him.

"You never even stood a chance." She said in her impression of a deep soldier voice.

"Round is over, first place goes to The Revenger! Taking down The Dewster in second place just as he had taken out Giggy."

"Your guys' names suck!" Giggy pouted from above them. Dewey chortled in response, Webby just stood, looking around nervously.

"That was pretty fun! What did you think, Revenger?" he poked her in the shoulder. She gave a nervous laugh and backed away from the rest of them, out from the dark room.

"Webby?" He followed her out, Giggy sulking, dragging his feet behind Dewey. Once she got outside she set her vest and gun up back in their spots and checked her pockets. Everything was still there, now she just had to check in with Cindy.

"Well that was more boring than I thought it was going to be." Cindy rolled her eyes and took off the headgear, waiting impatiently for Giggy to hang his stuff back up.

" Cindy, Did you see anyone else there when we were there?" Webby asked, still jumpy.

"No, but, I mean i'll check if you want." Cindy tapped on the tablet.

"Are you alright?" Dewey asked, a bit concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I just thought I saw one of you guys run behind me, but when I looked, that person I thought I saw wasn't wearing a vest. I was just weirded out by it all."

"Ugh, great. It's this loser again." Cindy popped her gum. "He's always hanging around in the dark in these places trying to scare people or something. Usually we catch him before he gets in though." She gave a suspicious look to Giggy.

"What? I didn't see him at all this entire time. It must have been between shifts or something."

"Mmm, must have been," she handed him the equipment, "must have been."

"Hey!" Giggy said offended, though it probably was his fault to begin with.

"Anyways, I notified security for you Giggy. You can figure out how to explain to them how he got in again." She said in her exasperated tone.

"You should really ask them how they haven't banned him yet." He countered. "Well, it's been fun. Now to try and figure out how to get them to not mention this entire thing to my boss."

"Good luck, I guess." Dewey shook his head at the entire debacle.

"Something tells me that shouldn't be a normal event." Webby said, shaking off the strange feeling she had, now knowing it was only some dumb kid. "But I guess I was expecting something that would be a liability rather than a security risk."

"Yeah." Dewey said, looking over at her. The security guards passed them by, going towards the lazer tag arena. The conversation got quiet for a while as they both reevaluated their life choices.

Webby broke the silence first, "Hey, wanna check how many tokens we have on your card?"

"You bet! I've been saving up for a glow in the dark razor scooter they have up there."

"Uh, don't you have enough money to buy one of those normally?"

"Yeah,you're right. But this is way more fun."


	5. Chapter 5: And One Furious Ex-Spy

Part three of their zany adventure to the coolest spots in Duckberg. As much as I like writing about Dewey and Webby, I want to get to some other characters too and get some development in for everyone! Sorry this took so long. I haven't been on for a while because of school, stress and other life crap. In any case, whether you're procrastinating on work yourself or actually have free time(How!?), happy reading!

"Just one wink and I forget how to more wink and now I don't need a thing. Woah ooh!" Shouting at the top of their lungs, the duo screamed the lyrics of Can Never Let You Go by BABBA while speeding down the freeway. A plush lizard and dorky razor scooter were strapped safely into the backseat. Yep, even the razor scooter, despite Webby's point that it might mess up the seats and it would be fine on the floor. The lizard's fur was going in all directions, just like Webby's feathers in the wind. Her hands went this way and that with the music, his free foot stomped to the beat. Lost in the music, everything seemed to melt away, and the road looked like it could go on forever into the horizon.

HONK HONK!

Woah! What the...

HOOOOOONK

The car horn started blaring again and he turned the car radio down. What's their deal, is my car on fire?

"Oh god...Oooh God." Webby began to panic, but was determined to stay calm and not hyperventilate. A white van with, what he assumed from his rear view mirrors, an angry elderly couple inside was about to be on their tail. "Crap, crap, crap..." Webby exclaimed, searching the buttons in front for the convertible button. Her heart began it's painful descent to the bottom of her abdomen. "Oh God I should have called. I'm gonna be so, so dead!"

"Webby, what the heck is going on! Do you know them or something? Should I call the police!?" he himself began to panic, this wasn't the first time he had been in a situation like this.  
"No! Please don't just keep driving normally. Everything is hunky doryyyy. " She drawled as she shuffled around in her purse. She took her phone pressed her Grandma's contact and waited as it dialed.  
"Um...ok!" He said in a strained, nervous van horn did not let up nor did the van's acceleration. If something didn't change soon the van would be wearing his back bumper. "Should I pull over?"  
"Hi Grandma, I know this is a little late and it's been like four hours. But I'm completely fine and with a friend and you don't have to run us off the road, okay?"  
"Wait. You didn't tell her where you were?!" Dewey yelled in shock. Webby cringed with guilt at her stupid decision.  
"I might've...forgot?" She said meekly, fully aware about how ridiculous she sounded.

"Webby, have whoever is driving pull that car to a parking lot now!" Her grandma screamed from the other line.

" Alright, ok we're pulling over. Just follow us to a spot."

"I believe everything that you've said up until now about your kung fu grandma." He quickly switched on his signal to switch lanes and looked frantically for some kind of open parking lot. " And I'd appreciate it if you would explain to her that it wasn't my fault so I don't get killed, please?!" Webby looked down, face flushed from all the commotion, as well as her own shame.

"Of, of course. I'm sorry." she rubbed her face and looked around for her things in front.

"Why. Why didn't you tell her where you were?" Dewey questioned angrily. "That's so irresponsible!"

"Irresponsible? Well, you're one to talk. Did you let your guardians know exactly where you were going." His face got red, but he shook it off quick to respond.

"I don't need a guardian, I'm responsible, and eighteen!" he pointed at himself aggressively

"So am I, genius! We've been over this!" Webby thrusted her hand forward in frustration. Even though she acted like one, she wasn't a child. She wasn't stupid. It was just a bad mistake!

"If she was expecting you somewhere you should have at least called." Dewey rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger.

"I know! It's just," Webby put her head in her hands, " I, I didn't want to miss this chance. She would have never let me do something that she wasn't there for or was controlling. She talks about me learning how to defend myself but she wouldn't even let me drive as far as the edge of my neighborhood." both of her hands smacked her knees.

Shaking his head in frustrated confusion, he looked over at her in awe. "She's letting you go to college across the world!"

"No! No she's not Dewey!" she was enraged, fists clenching, "She never was" she regained her composure slightly so she wouldn't scream. " She just feels bad for me, and all of the stupid work I've done trying to get she first mentioned it, I was excited out of my mind! But then.." She sat up straight. " then I really began to think about it. She hadn't done anything like that for me before. Now suddenly she's giving me the chance to go across the world? It didn't add up." Webby's frown unclenched he or fists. She laid her head in her hands and squeezed. " If this had never happened, it would have been some other excuse for me never to go." He sat hunched in the driver's seat and sighed,trying to take in everything that was being explained to him. From what he understood of Webby at that point, she was a very sheltered girl, homeschooled, but far from foolish. If he was as sheltered as she was for her entire life, he would've dipped out years ago. "I understand what I did was wrong, but for once I saw an actual chance to do something fun. I wasn't going to waste it for some empty promise."

He exhaled quickly and drummed his fingers. "Okay...Okay, Alright. We'll both explain what happened. Maybe we can get you off the hook a little bit." Webby nodded thankfully. He turned the wheel into the semi empty parking lot and put the car in park.

"I'm really sorry." she turned to him. He waves his hand, not meeting her gaze.

"No, really, it's fine. What you did was crazy, no doubt, but I can't say that it wasn't fun." He sighed with a grin,"You should talk to your grandma about this. How you really feel?" he pat her shoulder lightly. "Maybe she'll begin to understand."

"Yeah..." There came a loud banging at the door, and the van was parked outside. He took a deep breath hesitantly opened his door as Webby hurried to get out of the car and prevent any punching.

"Webby Vanderquack! Why on God's green earth didn't you answer your phone? And who in lord's name is this?" Mrs.. Beakley had Dewey by his shirt collar, shaking him for emphasis.

"Grandma, he is completely trustworthy I assure you. We just went for a drive." She raced around to the other side of the car just in case Beakley tried to strangle him. She let him go,but kept a sharp eye on him from her periphery.

"For going on three hours?! Without notifying me?!" Beakley scoffed as the beagle boys and Sara got out of the van running quickly toward the scene,"Pardon me if I don't believe you immediately."

"And you, how do you fit into all of this!" Biggie confronted him heading angrily in his direction, seeming to be just as worried as Beakley had been. Dewey only stuttered in response. Sarah finally looked up and began to absorb what was going on around her.

"Dewey?" Sara called out in shock. He turned to her in confusion.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"Uh...no?" Sara lied horribly.

" You went perusing all about town with some vagabond whom you've just met without telling anyone where you were!" Truthfully, Webby had forgotten all about the beagle boys, the kids and Sara and what they had to have gone through trying to look for her. She really felt like the worst person in the world just then.

"I'm sorry, and I know I was in the wrong, and I swear..." Even though she felt extremely guilty just then, the shame was not enough to cloud her sharp mind. " Granny, how did you know where I was?" Beakley looked away in anger. The others didn't know at that point if they should go back to their cars, look away or stay still. This resulted in a tense and awkward silence.

"Granny..." Webby's face was stuck between a transition stage of realization and anger. She already knew the answer to that question.

" I can track your phone. This world is a strange and unpredictable place and I don't want to lose you to it." Webby's silent fury began to burn brighter than ever. "I only use it when necessary, and I believed when you disappeared, without any explanation beforehand, that it was time to use it." Webby stood for a couple seconds, letting those words of confirmation sink in. She let out a strained laugh, not knowing exactly how to react.

"...Oh Save me...Save me the hurricane, scary world preachy speech! I can't stand this anymore!" she slammed her hands into her own head. She began to pace in a tight oval"You're- you're a hypocrite! With all of the things you've done you are a hypocrite and a liar!" Beakley's hands clenched and her face turned blank. Her eyes were the only cue of how incredibly furious she was at that moment. " How many more times have you really used that tracking device. When I was going to the library? Or how about tutoring lessons, or one of my other classes outside of -or work? What about all those times I asked you why I saw your car drive by where I was and you were lying. Saying you had to meet someone, or were driving home from some event. How many times!? How many!" Beakley still stood tense in her spot, eyes flaming. "But no.. God forbid I go a little crazy..." Beakley drew a short, calculated breath in. "God forbid I lose my mind!" she screamed the last part the loudest, making the silence afterwards all the more deafening. So much for a good impression, but at that point she was used to people thinking she was crazy.

"You're going to thank this boy you've been hanging out with for what a wonderful time you had. You're going to apologize to the Danes and the Beagles for how irresponsible you were. And you are coming back to the hotel. Make sure to grab all of your things. Because we are having a long talk." She turned around swiftly, heels clicking against the asphalt of the parking lot. Dewey let go of his deep breath and looked at Webby.

" So, IM probably guessing that you'll be preoccupied tomorrow." She looked at him quizzically. What's tomorrow? Oh ,wait...the Party? Her heart sank a bit. So he was going to invite me...

"Yeah... It depends on how all this goes, but...yeah Probably will be dead by midnight at least."

'Well in any case, if you do end up mot murdered when you get to your hotel, here's this." He slipped her a cheesy yet well made business card with an unfamiliar logo on it. "Ignore the card, it was for this weird youtube thing I was doing for a while. Didn't take me long that being a youtuber didn't need the substantial business cards that I had printed." he pointed to the number on the bottom. "this is my phone number. If you ever want to, chill, hang, lounge, ya know..." He began to grow awkward, a rare occurrence for Dewey Duck. It was just such a weird situation to be in, and would probably be the weirdest situation he would be in for a while. And that was saying something!

"Trust me, I'll be back to drive your car. Probably to make my getaway for the airport." she mirrored his smile, getting her stuff together. Dewey unbuckled the stuffed animal she won from the back and handed it to her. "Thanks for everything."

"No problem." He got into the car and waited for her to walk away to the van. He did some deep breathing, and took out his phone. The phone rang and went straight to voicemail. Most likely Louie denying the call.

Hello, this is Louie Duck. If you're someone I know, text me instead, like, you know, a normal human being. But since you're here, just leave a message I guess. *beep*

"Louie...pause Whatever you're watching. I've got a real story for you..."

+++

"Hey, tell my grandma I went outside for a bit." He nodded and picked at his plate as the chaos continued. Old Grandpa Dane, without hearing a thing that she had said, continued to enjoy his dinner. After a few more minutes of frantic running from the adults and dodging from the kids, Beakley had finally gotten the older one to calm down and sit.

"He got broccoli in my haaair," She whined in tears. Beakley thought that she was a bit too old to be crying about such small matters. However, she didn't know the child well so she kept that thought to herself.

" Now, don't fret, young lady. If you were to just sit still I could probably get most of it out for you." Her sniffling subsided, and she sat back down to let Beakley work her magic.  
Biggie had managed to catch Corbin on his way to the side of the counter, probably trying to snag the gum or cookies sitting there.

"Corbin, ya rascal. Ya can't be doing nothin' for more than ten seconds can't cha'?" He sat the kid down with him across the table from Sarah and the rest of the kids for the time being. Sarah passed over his plate so he was still forced to eat his food. The middle one, Riley, had locked themselves in the bathroom and "wasn't coming out for a billion million years" in their own words. Nobody knew why Riley was so upset as they had joined in producing all the ruckus.

"Don't worry Sara. We made sure ta lock da' winda' so none of em would escape like last time." Burger consoled.

"Out of all the things that these rascals can do, pick locks, fit everything in their room into their closet, they still can't figure out how to unlock a window." Sara wondered puzzled while the younger one pouted.

"Yeah I can! You watch me." Sara laughed more.

"Corbin, it's a good thing."

"Speaking of escape, I wonder where my granddaughter has gone off to."

"She probably is in one of the other bathrooms we have." Bouncer said, pointing a thumb in the direction where all the chaos was. Sara's grandpa wasn't listening. Lost in thought he poked and stared at his now cold dinner.

"Well, I thought I saw her step outside for a little while." Burger countered.

" She probably wanted to breathe for a bit. She isn't used to this many people, so she's probably having a sensory overload." Beakley said worriedly.

"Before I moved here to be with my cousins and for college, I was the same way. After a while you start to get used to it." Sara consoled, nodding her head at the past. "Webby doesn't seem to be a naturally introverted person, so with a little conditioning, she'll be fine." They all continued to eat their food, Beakley growing more and more anxious by the minute, waiting for her to come back. After waiting for ten minutes she suddenly got up from her seat.

"I'm going to text her," The rest of the table looked at each other worriedly. Sara got up and looked at the rest of the table.

"I'm gonna see if Riley is going to come out of the bathroom now. Webby might be back there too. Maybe she didn't actually leave?"

"Well, it's been ten minutes, Sara. And we'dve probably noticed if she went back there." Biggie seemed one of the more worried ones at the table. Sara walked around back towards the restrooms. Beakley, after not getting as much as a read out of Webby, dialed her number and called. The phone continued to ring, but only the voicemail answered. Beakley immediately hung up and called again, and began to pace. Sarah knocked on the door of the first, until she realized the door was unlocked and checked the other. She called both of their names with no answer. Assuming it was Riley in the bathroom, she listened for any movement.

"Um, Biggie! Hand me the keys to the bathroom, please! Now!" She yelled at last, Biggie tossed her the extra set of bathroom keys and she fiddled with the lock . "Oh when I get my hands on Riley i'm gonna..."The lock popped unlocked revealing nothing but an open window. Sara could hear their giggling from the open window as Riley began running down the street.

"Grandpa, Burger? Stay with the kids. Biggie, come with me now cause Riley's making a break for it!" Sara said, closing the window shut and racing across the restaurant. She was halfway out the front door with Biggie when she added on,"Bouncer? You stay with Mrs. Beakley and help her see if Webby's anywhere around the- Hey! Riley Dane you get back here now!" She raced for the child on foot as he ran across the now low traffic street. "This isn't funny!"

Beakley walked out the door and looked down the street. If she were standing outside she tended to stand near a window near to where the table would have a view of her. So if she were to go for a walk, she might have turned down the street. " Since the others are up farther, and are significantly more loud. Webby would probably follow their sound." She said to Bouncer, who was listening intently. "So we should look in the opposite direction." Bouncer nodded and followed her looking around at the apartments nearby. Up the street a ways, they had finally caught Riley after a while of chasing and blocking. Biggie began to carry Riley back towards the restaurant and Sara called down the street to Beakley and Bouncer.

"Anything?" Beakley exhaled a short, nervous sigh and stared down at her phone.

"Nothing. Nothing...I'm sorry to bother you but can we drive around and see if she's anywhere around?"

"Of course. We need to drop these kids home where they won't be able to escape."

"And I should close down the restaurant and stay with them." Biggie added on.

"Biggie, no. You don't need to do that really." Sara refused, "You all should keep it open, you know, just in case?" She gave him a hesitant look. Biggie gave a small shake of his head and gave her a knowing glance.

"It's been pretty slow today. I think that we can afford it."

The group piled in the van and took the long route home, hoping to catch webby along the way first. A couple of circles around the area and phone calls made by whoever had a phone was all Mrs. Beakley needed to pull out her tracker app and start tapping. The city could be a dangerous place, and Webby, though reasonably capable of brutally injuring her attacker in any situation, could still be easily caught up in the fray.  
I know where she is, she is at some race car track of some sorts, but she might begin moving again. The passengers of the car looked quizzically in her direction,

"I know where that is, it's not too far from here. Put your phone in the holder and Grandpa can follow the directions there." Biggie caught a glance at her phone and grimaced a bit, despite being thankful that Webby was most likely alright.

It was a chase from one spot to another, as Webby was making her way away from the race card track when they were already halfway they decided it would be best to drop the kids off at home with Biggie since they were closer to there than anywhere else. Riley insisted on going with them, and refused to get out of the van without screaming, which rattled up the rest of the kids. Because of Riley's tantrum they had wasted more time and had three more angry people in the car than what they had originally wanted. By the time they had gotten close to her location, she had already been at the arcade for a while, and both her and Dewey were about to leave. Fortunately, they had triangulated which car they were driving and caught up with them. Unfortunately for every party involved it turned into a screaming match which lead to an awkward drive back to the tourist station. All the kids were passed out in their seats, all except Riley of course.

"You ran away too huh?" Riley said, inspecting their dirty nails. "Take it from a pro, you gotta make them think you're still there for the best results." They reached into their back pocket, digging around for a bit. "I got a washer and two cool rocks!" Webby smiled quizzically but amused.

"Well, I got a stuffed animal on my first try!" she squished the stuffed animal between her legs. since there wasn't enough space for the animal in the back row, it had to resort to sitting on the floor.

Biggie turned around to the last row of seats where they were. "Ha! beginners luck. Riley's biggest is snagging Mrs. Abram's iguana from her back 've seen that old woman's face. Ha!" Webby smiled at that. Sara looked over at him from the seat in front of him scoldingly.

" Don't talk with them, that's the time out row."

'Alright alright." His smile faded. "Running around without tellin' us where you were was wrong, you worried us all, the both of ya."  
He had a stern look on his face, but you could see some residual worry left just below the surface. Webby looked down, playing with her fingers. After apologizing profusely to everyone individually and paying almost double their original price for compensation, they got into their car and drove off towards the hotel. As the building came up over the horizon so did her sense of dread fully weigh down on her. It was going to be a long night.


	6. Chapter 6: Paloma

So, when I was reading over some old chapters there was something I realized was a bit confusing. I mentioned at the beginning that Webby was 16 when Beakley started to really crack down on her (though she was strict anyway). Webby for the entirety of this story is 18 and getting ready for college.

That morning, Webby awoke at just barely seven AM, atypical for her as she could usually sleep until twelve. In contrast to the yelling and arguing last night, the rattling air conditioner from the other room sounded like wisps of wind on a summer day. As Webby began her daily routine of reviewing what had happened last night,she found it much harder to recall the fine details of her foolish escapade and fiery argument, especially over what points they had fought over specifically. Freedom versus safety, Ability and overestimation. All she remembered of fine details at that point was the crick in her neck was worse than usual from sleeping in the bathroom tub, and that no conclusions had been made. No agreement, just silence and anger. So much of settling disputes before you go to sleep. She thought, remembering the rule that her teacher would always tell her. He didn't think of the fact that some disputes only seem to get solved, when really they lie just underneath the surface waiting to break free again.

Groggily she stumbled out of her cocoon of porcelain cast iron and bedsheets back to the room Beakley and her both shared. Still asleep, she away from the bathroom's entrance, broad shoulders in a tense protective position. Webby, indifferent to her huddled mass, shuffled around her suitcase for a new pair of clothes. She needed sun and some fresh air before she had a breakdown. Unlike the night before, she made sure to leave her a text that she was going and would be back around nine.

A warm June day, not too humid for it being on the seaside of busy citizens still had to make their commutes to work, only a few were up and about at this hour, usually to get a quick breakfast. Early birds, and other species, strolled into the coffee shops and bistros scattered around the hotel. It was a cozy part of Duckburg, having the feel of city life without being too crowded. She decided to choose one on the corner of the street.

"Paloma" Webby said aloud. A Spanish name meaning "Dove". she had read that Duckberg still had lingering districts from when immigrants flocked there during the industrial age. She had seen an abundance of Spanish names in this part of the city. Hm...Spanish...Spanish...what Was she forgetting?

My daily entry! Rats!

Webby, as a part of studying Spanish in hopes of going to college at her dream school, would write daily entries in Spanish, like a diary. At first it was pretty tedious, and added onto all of the other work she had to do in a day, it began to grate on her. Later on, as it became more natural, it was actually a good practicing tool and stress reliever. Even after she had shown Beakley the amount she had written, it was still enjoyable to write them. Because of the commotion of yesterday, she had little time to think about anything but what was going on. Luckily she brought the notebook wherever she went, and the bistro on the corner looked like a lovely spot to get to writing in.

Paloma had large windows that caught every inch of sun that spilled down the street. Filtered through the soft interior, even the harshest rays were reduced to a warm golden color and sat complimentary to a mural on a feature wall on the right side of the bistro. Inhaling deeply, she took in the wonderful smell of fresh baked bread and pastries that wafted towards the entrance. Are those...She Couldn't even feel herself walking over to the counter."Churros...mi alma." ( My soul). She whispered, enchanted. Churros made right and especially fresh were close to heavenly. She only came to when the old man in front started laughing at her. He was an old golden eagle, well kept, but his feathers were beginning to fade in age. He had a slight accent, not from Duckburg, or that's what she assumed anyway.

"I assume you want the churros and chocolate. That will be $3.50 for a regular serving." He chuckled raspily. Webby, flustered, murmured a quick thank you and grabbed the receipt to sit down. Gazing across the restaurant, there weren't a lot of people at this time of day, which was surprising. Most other bistros or cafes were filled to the brim with early commuters for a quick coffee and breakfast.

Setting up her small workspace, she opened her notebook to get started an waited for her receipt number to be called.

" Churros and chocolate for la senorita!" She went to get up to see the old eagle right in front of her table!

"Oh! Uh thanks!" Webby said, frazzled.

"I only use the numbers when it gets busy. I think it's too impersonal." His eyes twinkled. "So, I haven't seen you around the restaurant. Are you new to town." Webby, caught off guard by his talkative nature, found herself fishing for a response.

"Hey, don't mind him, he's just a nosy old aguila." A female voice called from the counter. A little younger than Webby, the pigeon stood straight and sturdy with her arms crossed and eyebrow cocked. Her face seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"That's my granddaughter, Carmen." He gestured towards the counter. "She doesn't like me talking to random customers. Afraid I'll embarrass her." he smiled again slyly.

" Pah." She waved him off like a pesky fly. " I'm only afraid that you'll neglect the counter and we'll pile up with customers." He put a hand over his chest in pain.

"Ay, mi Carmen. How you wound me so. Can't an old eagle have a little conversation?" She returned to the back after rolling her eyes at him. He looked down at her churros now at the table. "Well, if you are in town for long, the time to get the freshest churros is around six o'clock, when we open."

"Oh, thanks." Webby replied gratefully. He went to another table, striking up yet another conversation.

Huh, what a cool guy! Webby went back to writing and eating. Despite them being not completely fresh, they had a warmness to them, as well as a unique spice she hadn't ever tasted had a crunch, a well cooked outside and a melty inside. Combined with the richness of the chocolate, she was on cloud nine. Despite not being as fresh, they were still mouth wateringly good.

As she wrote last night's entry, some more details came back subtly. Dewey gave her his number, there was a party tonight, and that poor stuffed animal she had won was still shoved uncomfortably under the hotel bed. She didn't regret yesterday in the slightest, it was something she couldn't pass up on, and she had met people she never would have before, even if it was only for a short while. The only thing she regretted were the things she said, but more so the things she didn't say. She stuffed some more Churros in her mouth, pushing away those thoughts for now.

"How is everything? Would you like anything else?" The man was back again and, as all waiters are, at the worst time. She gulped down the churros as fast as she could.

"Mmfp, yes, good!" She cleared her throat and coughed a bit. "Actually, can I have some ice water please?"

"Sure!" he walked to go get a glass as webby tried to clear her throat of any extra pastry. He set the glass down next to the half eaten plate and nearly filled notebook. He took a gander at the open page "Ah, entiendes espanol?"

'Mmm." she took a quick sip of the water and replied "Si, supongo que tu entiendes tambien. El nombre de tu restaurante..." She pointed to the front where the sign would be.

"Si, Paloma." he nodded happily, excited that she understood his language.

"If you don't mind me asking, why Paloma?" He smiled, happy to tell his story, and pulled up a chair to her table.

" Well, Paloma was my daughters name. My wife and I immigrated here from a little pueblo outside of Barcelona. You may notice I am very articulate." he did a little goofy bow, like some elite rich man. "We were lucky to be from a rich family and used our funds for English lessons and our ticket over. As we approached the main land in Nueva Costa, Paloma was born." his eyes lit up even more than they usually were. "The first of our family to make it to the land of opportunity. And just as her name, she was the embodiment of paz and bienestar" Webby could see Carmen in the background, glaring, loitering in between the entrance to the kitchen and the counter area. "Mi Palomita." His face seemed to age as he said those words his eyes and stupor seemed to sink even farther into him.

"What, what happened?" Webby questioned hesitantly. "If, if you don't mind me asking?" though a bit put off by his oversharing, she was enraptured in his story, ever curious about the past and different people's stories.

"It's alright mija, I can never leave a story unfinished." He inhaled deeply. "As Palomita grew older, things began to get worse and worse in Duckburg. The Beagle family as well as other gangs were wreaking havoc, especially on our side of town. Paloma, unfortunately, felt important to go into that havoc, and protect people herself." a cloud passed over the sun for a moment, dimming the natural light in the bistro. "All the way until the very end."

"I'm sorry." Webby said, feeling sadder still, and a bit on edge. Hopefully the beagle boys weren't personally involved. After a short pause, the sun emerged again, shining still.

"Ah, but it's all part of her story." He pointed up at the mural she was sitting in front of. A family of birds roosting together, with a peaceful little pigeon in the middle of an embrace. "She loved and she was true to herself, not to anyone else. That is what's most important." He emphasized to her, his eyes seeming to reach like the sun's rays through the window, right into her heart.

"Yeah. That's true." Webby nodded, appreciating that he even shared his story at all. She checked the time again. It was around eight thirty, but it never hurt to make it back early.

As if on cue, "Abuelo! Customers!" Carmen said a bit too loudly, clearly uncomfortable. He sighed and pushed in his chair.

"Alright, remember about the churros, eh? If you don't come back I will take offense!" Webby laughed and waved goodbye.

Arriving back at the room, she turned up the dim lights, still not acclimated to the room's dark interior.

Beakley was sitting at the desk next to the TV monitor writing something in one of her many notepads. She was never one for computers.

"Hey...Grandma." Webby's throat felt blocked up. She had never felt this way talking to Beakley before, but then again, she had never gone missing without notifying her before. " I'm...sorry. About everything. I should've just asked you first, or told you where I was. It was really bad of me to have everyone looking for me."

"Webby." She had almost turned around to look at her. " Webby, you were wrong to do that to all of us. But you were right about many other things that you had accused me of. I wasn't going to let you go, I was thinking that when we got there you would realize how big of a leap this would be. How dangerous this entire endeavor would be alone." Webby plopped down on her bed, running her hands through her hair. "You know that I've dealt with this sort of thing before. So many children..." Webby knew that when her grandma was still working, she was dealing with a lot of abductions, even from high class families. It was dangerous if you weren't careful, and she always was! As well as the college she wanted to go to was in a pretty safe area already.

"Grandma, I know about all of this. I've been safe." Sighing, she gets back up. " I just don't understand why you wouldn't trust me with anything. Not even the college thing, just anything after all this time!?"

"I, I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Grandma, I'm going to have to leave eventually. I'm going to have to be on my own." She sat down abruptly in another chair. "What's better, me being tossed into the world, given freedom all at once or me being gradually let go to see what the world is really like?" Beakley had a conflicted look in her eyes, putting her head in her hands. The ex spy had dealt with things much worse than this, but somehow loosening her grasp around her only granddaughter was so much harder. She had seen Webby's emotions from years and years prior explode in a fiery mess in front of her. Things she had not even remember Webby disclosing to her. In all of her efforts to keep her from getting hurt in the outside world, she had neglected the fact that she was hurting on the inside. Beakley set her notepad own and stood up tall and authoritatively.

"I will never regret the things I do to protect you, but I will apologize for the things that were most likely unnecessary. I wish you would've told me, but I am sorry I haven't made you feel comfortable enough to even do that." She pulled out her phone and went to settings where the tracking app was. "Only deal, if you go anywhere you tell me where. I still need some solace. If you meet up with anyone let me know who it is beforehand and let me do a background check." She rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't be too hard. Everything is on people's social medias these days." She set the phone down on the desk facing Webby and deleted the app as proof that she did. Beakley would have to set up the entire thing in order to track her again.

Her eyes welled up, a pressure lifted off of her "Thank you Granny." she hugged her tight. "I promise, this time I won't let you down." As she said those words, she remembered Dewey's invitation.

"Huh...um, Granny, you know that friend I met the other day." Webby crossed her arms and bounced awkwardly.

"Do you have Sara's number?" Webby gave an inquisitive look.

"No."

"Well, you know where she would be. If you can convince her to go with you then I'll allow it, since she seemed to know him when we caught up to you."

What?! But I barely know her. I mean, I have nothing against her, but there is no way that...

Beakley had a knowing smirk on her face. She expected as much, and was counting it. Webby, however, knew that a deal was a deal, and if she could play the game right, she might score herself a ticket to her first party ever! If all her "research", or binge watching sitcoms and movies was correct, she'd have to be careful of creepy people in masks and open bottles of alcohol, but she'd be prepared for all of that and more. Webby gained a smirk of her own "Well alright then, I'll go ask her."

She did a little hum as she went for the door, realizing she was forgetting her purse, phone and key card to get back in. "Ah," she laughed nervously, "Gotta, take this...over There" she backed out of the room shyly before shutting the door.

"Lord help her." Beakley sighed

Outside, Webby took out her phone and wallet to text Dewey chucking slyly to herself.

" Hey Dewey, its me Webby. If you're still throwing a party, count me in." She paused after pressing send, and wrote another text. "Is it okay if I bring a friend?"

Heya guys, gals and nonbinary pals! Overall, not my best nor my favorite chapter. It's pretty short compared to some of my other chapters thus far, and I again some more OCs (Sorry! I promise nobody else that is completely new! It's just conducive to the story's plot). Hopefully next time the chapter quality will be better and we also get to more of the action which is what I've been DYING to write. Expect more soon. Happy reading!


	7. Chapter 7: Teen Spirit

Huh… you smell that? Smells like...no wait it's gone...Anyway, welcome back! Took a little longer, but I definitely am glad i took some extra time on this one. Hopefully it shows through in the product.

Huh… you smell that? Smells like...no wait it's gone...Anyway, welcome back! Took a little longer, but I definitely am glad i took some extra time on this one. Hopefully it shows through in the product.

"No way." The tall canine crossed her arms and turned back to her, shuffling some papers. They had finally gotten a new filing cabinet and she was determined to get at least the documents organized.

"Please, please please please!" Webby, practically kneeling at her feet, begged desperately.

"Webby. I. Hate. Parties. Besides, I have a ton of stuff to do here!" she gestured to all of the scattered manilla folders and papers. All of the cardboard boxes were empty, their contents strewn about in circles. This was the mind of a stressed and obsessed madwoman.

"I can help!" she grabbed a pile of papers from the ground. "How are you organizing them, alphabetically, are there numbered codes, types of documents-"

"No no I got it, i got it." She grabbed the papers from her hand protectively. " It's a lot of things that I only know how to organize and it would take more time explaining to you than just doing it myself."

"Untrue! Just tell me to put stuff into piles and then you can organize and file from there!"

Sara rolled her eyes. "You've only been here a couple of days, how do you even know anyone throwing a party?" She stopped sifting, a suspicion growing in her mind. "Who's hosting this party anyway?"

"Oh, well you know the guy in the Bentley?"

"Dewey Duck…" she gave a quick nod.

"How do you know him?"

"Uh,I don't. Not exactly." she shook off her other thoughts for a moment. "Just, you know, uber rich and all that, word gets around."

"Well, he's the one! I haven't ever been invited to a party before so I thought this would be the best opportunity to go." Sara's heart sank guiltily at that. Sure, she wasn't one for parties, but that shouldn't mean that everyone should avoid them. Webby seemed to have missed out on so many things already, and if left alone, who knows what would happen to her...or better yet, to anyone else. Plus, there was something else she wanted to look into, and this might be one of her only chances to do it.

She sighed and plopped a random pile of papers into her hands, "file now, discussion later."

She squealed with delight, hopping around the room.

"Ok ok," she took a deep breath, "how do you want me to order this?"

For most of the afternoon, while they both organized and filed and filed and organized, Sara gradually realized how much easier it was working with someone else. Filing didn't take nearly as long, heck, she could actually see the floor, and Webby was actually pretty cool. Mastered 3 different forms of self defense, played field hockey, and the extensive trivia she somehow memorized about ancient civilizations basically guaranteed her to be awesome in Sara's book.

"I wanted to do ice hockey- oop, tax stuff-" She passed the paper over to Sara, "- but the stadium was too far out of the way and all the ice hockey teams were involved with schools. Not too great at ice skating anyway."

"I wonder if we ever had a field hockey game against each other." Sara wondered.

Reminiscing on their old sports teams and Sara recounting old stories from high school, the work got finished quickly.

"Woo-oo! Finished!" Webby cheered, throwing her hands up in the air, Sara hi-fived her.

"Wow, you are an organizing machine!" Sara smiled slyly, "can you do my house next?"

"Not unless you pay me, no." Webby laughed. "So…" Sara looked around the room at all of the space freed up, she had definitely helped. Who knows, there had to be something she could gain from this, even as just an experience.

"Alright," She agreed reluctantly as Webby cheered and bounced around the office. "One night of not working on summer work won't do any harm," She looked worriedly for reassurance "I could just make it up tomorrow, right?"

Webby was grinning so hard it was a wonder she didn't pull a face muscle "Of course!"

"So, where is this shindig? What's the attire? When does it start?"

"Well… it's today…" Sara looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to give more details.

"You have no clue, do you?"

"Uhh, sure I do, just give me one minute…"Webby started furiously typing on her phone

"one...second…" she opened the messages app and saw that Dewey had responded.

Nice! For sure, you can bring someone else. How did you manage to convince her how to let you out?

Anyway, party is at 8:30 or so, not on the dot or anything. You don't have to wear anything nice, just something cas'. Here is the google link to where my place is.

The third message was a link to the address on google, lush, extravagant, and definitely on the rich side of town.

Demonios! How is he so rich!? I bet he has a billion bentleys! Webby suddenly grinned to herself and rubbed her hands together. This would be the perfect occasion to gather some intel on his bent- I mean...Dewey Duck…

"What are you doing?"

"Huh? What?" she snapped back into reality

"You put your phone in your pocket and turned into some dramatic villain." Webby flushed a little as she looked at her suspiciously.

"Oh sorry, lost in thought."An awkward pause. " Aaanyway, the party has a loose time of eight thirty, semi formal...I think? And I'm guessing this is where he lives." She pulled out her phone again to see the map.

"Woah! Central Pointe!? I knew he was rich but he can't be serious about actually living in Central Pointe Luxury apartments!"

"Well, you can ask him about it when we arrive…" Webby frowned " a bajillion hours from now…"

"Actually, its best to arrive a little late to a…" Sara began before seeing Webby's pitiful look. "Sorry." She thought for a moment and clapped her hands together.

"What we could do is, since I don't have any nice clothes...Do you have cash on you?"

Webby nodded, Granny always made sure that she had cash at all times, as well as she had money she had saved from work but never got around to spending. "We can go get some lunch at the mall? I know a pretty good burger joint there." Webby's face went blank on shock. One of her dormant child fantasies had come true.

"You mean real hamburgers?"

"Uh...hopefully they're real? Or else Duckburg citizens are going to have a lot of health complications later on."

"Real hamburgers…" Webby repeated.

"Alright, I'm going to take that as -OH" she was almost knocked over by the force. "OK! you're hugging me! This is happening!" Sara was lifted up off the ground with webby's freakish strength.

"You. You are now my favorite being." Sara, still a bit uncomfortable with the sudden embrace.

"Well, you're favorite being would like you to not crack all of her ribs!" she squeaked

"Oh don't worry, I know how much pressure it would take to crack all of your ribs. It's nearly impossible for me to do." She set her down, Sara gaining back her freedom.

"Ah…" She said weakly and hugged her ribcage protectively, "good to know…"

" Webbigail Vanderquack, welcome to Sunset Mall, home to moody teenagers swarming Hot Topic and greasy floors that you can crack a hip on." Sara seemed to speak from experience.

"Ooh! You guys have Hot Topic?" Webby exclaimed excitedly.

She immediately shut her down, "Don't even think about it…"

"What! That place is actually really-."

"Nope."

"Wh-"

"Ooooh I can almost smell the burgers cooking already." Sara looked over at her, praying that that would change the subject.

"Burgers!" Webby quickly forgot about the Hot Topic, to Sara's luck. Webby's target was locked, and nothing was going to stop her from obtaining a circular meat patty sandwich of goodness. One bite of that Sunset Mall Feather Rocket Burger and she was in heaven. It had been years since she had had a burger, the last time being when her team won the state championship.

"So, I'm guessing it's pretty good?" Sara chuckled. Webby looked starstruck.

"Good? This burger is amazing!" She pointed catty corner from their table, back towards the register. "You people are amazing!" the employees looked unmoved by her yelling. "This place is amazing!"

"Shhhzhh! Please don't make a scene!" Sara laughed nervously. "Deep breaths…" Webby exhaled out and breathed in again. "Lets go get some stuff."

"Mark my words Sara Juleka Dane!" She pointed her index finger down at the table intensely, her voice just as loud as before. "We shall return!"

"Juleka?"

She waved off her question. "Sounds better with a middle name" She got ahold of her wrist and pulled her along. "Come on let's get moving!"

They made their way from the food court, which was the lowest level of the mall, up to the next floor, which was the cheap general brand clothing stores. Even with their lowered prices for summer, the stores were still expensive. Since they had limited cash to spend, they did what any regular customer would do. Act sophisticated and like they had money and grab a bunch of clothes from different racks. Then, proceed to buy none of it and put them back in random spots and leave before disgruntled staff got a good look at their faces.

"Sara Sara Sara!" Webby tore open the curtain, revealing the most exaggerated "may I speak to your manager" outfit she had ever seen.

"Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato and make it snappy." She followed with a couple expectant snaps, "I have a kid's soccer game to drive to."

Sara snorted, "Webby what the heck is that!" she gestured to the entire outfit. "Actually, what is any of that!"

She flipped on three different pairs of maui jim seven pools sunglasses.

"Oh! What horrid manners! I definitely won't see you laughing when I give a review on Yolp!" Sara almost completely lost it when Webby flipped the scarf over her head, blocking her vision, and waddled back into the dressing room awkwardly.

Fortunately for their own pride, they again didn't get anything from the shop. Though they were wasting a lot of time, the search for decent clothes was unfruitful, until…

" Saraaa…" Webby backed away from her, closer to the store to their right. When she came back from her thoughts, it was already too late.

"Webby, no!" Sara reached out to her, webby had already crossed the dark, brooding threshold to angst and teenage dreams.

"Sara.. I never had a choice" Webby shrugged, as if her conscious decision was inevitable. She then bolted deeper inside to the very back.

"No! Not the Hot Topic!" She ran in after her. And ironically enough, that was one of the two stores they ended up buying from the entire trip. The other being something that actually fit the dress code of the party . Going their separate ways, they decided to meet up at webby's place as proof that they were going somewhere. Sara would drive them there since she knew the city like the back of her hand. Eventually they got there, five minutes after the written time, Webby insisting that that was late enough.

Central Pointe in photos was really something. Massive with landscape lighting in all the right places to make the building pop in a romantic way, despite it being a more modern looking building. In real life, you had best better believe some small town up and coming architect would have fallen to their knees.

"You have got to be kidding me." Sara gawked. Webby was speechless. She hadn't seen anything like it. Her mind wandered all of the historical monuments of the world and how much more spectacular they must look like in reality. They walked into the entrance hall, where a large party was being held in the main area. Formal, posh and definitely not what they were dressed for.

"Webby! I thought this was semi formal! Not extravagant!" Sara tried to cover herself with her bag, which was barely the size of her face.

"Well that's what he said!"

"Hi, excuse me?" the lady at the front looked at them with slight pity. "You must be looking for the Duck brothers.

Webby's brow furrowed. Brothers? She tried to remember if Dewey had said anything about having a brother. Sara looked surprised at the fact that she knew why they were there.

"He usually throws his parties in his apartment, much to everyone's disdain. They must have forgotten to tell you the room number." she rolled her eyes "Again…"

Webby pulled out her phone. Luckily since they were only five minutes early, there were only a few people there, and he texted back quickly with the room number, apologizing. Webby exhaled, glad that the misunderstanding was dealt with. Thanking the woman they headed towards the elevator. Her chest immediately began to tighten when the door closed, she couldn't tell if it was from excitement or nerves. She'd always wanted to go to parties now, why was she having mixed feelings now?

Before they had gotten to three floors three people got in, apparently going to the same floor that they were. Then there were more, and more at the next floor, until the entire elevator was filled to the brim with people about their age, laughing and talking.

Woah was all that Webby could even think in response to this amount of people in one space.

Somehow, she felt better with all of the people, it gave her no time to think about her own worries. They all gushed out of the elevator like a wave pool, down the same hallway to the same exact address. The penthouse of the Central Pointe Luxury apartments. Sara only stared blankly when she walked in, as if she was in a sort of trance.

"This is insane!" Webby bounced on the balls of her feet. There was a DJ booth set up to the left of the living room, some EDM blasting from the speakers. The setup for the music would've been strange, if there wasn't an entrance dead ahead to the patio area with both an outside hot tub and pool. Two people had already opened the door and lunged for the pool straight upon entering. there were two hallways in the left and right side of the room, one next to the living space, and one between the DJ stand and kitchen.

"Ladies aaand gentlemen! How is everyone Deweying tonight," He grinned at his own joke shooting finger guns across the crowd. Everyone began to cheer and scream.

"Oh my god," Webby and Sara said at once. "That's so bad."

"Today we are celebrating the end of an era. The Dewey Dew-night show will be uploading its very last video on viewtube tonight." There were a couple awws from the crowd. " But we had a good run," Webby gave a confused look. She thought that his viewtube channel had failed early on. Maybe what he had meant to say was that his channel was ending, or something like that.

"And with every end, there is a new beginning. Like the beginning of Summer vacation, who is hyped for that!" a loud roar came from the crowd "And to kick off our celebration of new beginnings, i'd like to play a song a dear friend just released. So give it up for Caramelo's "Way Back Home"! Everyone cheered as the track began to play. Caramelo was an up and coming artist that got her start in the very town of Duckburg. Webby had only hear of her but never got around to listening to any of her stuff. She stood at the sidelines looking in as everybody danced. Looking back at Dewey, putting the microphone back on the stand, he was wearing a nice polo shirt with shorts, and looked like he was straight out of a country club. Drastically different from what he was wearing when she first met him, a blue shirt and dark jeans..

"Look at him." Cindy appeared between Webby and Sara like an apparition. "Like Gatsby himself."

"Ah!" Sara jumped "What the heck!"

"Yeah" Webby agreed, unphased, she could tell she was approaching. She turned to her. "I didn't take you as much of a reader, Cindy."

"Had to read it in high school." She popped her gum. "I liked the end I guess. Lord of the Flies is better though." Webby nodded avidly in agreement. Sara, clearly third wheeling on their discussion, looked worriedly at Webby and her strange affinity for violence.

"Cindy and Webby!" Dewey jogged down to them with a show host smile. "Glad you could come."

"Dewey." Cindy rolled her eyes at him. At least when he was around the arcade he wasn't this fake. "Looking faker than usual I see. Dial it back a little there, you have new guests." He gave her a look.

"Hi Dewey!" Webby smiled back, trying to be courteous. "This is the friend I mentioned, Sara." Dewey didn't seem to recognize her from the other night, or at least didn't let anyone else know that he did.

"Nice to meet you." She gave him a firm, almost hostile, handshake. "Dewey" His expression never wavered.

"Glad you could come." the group fell silent for a long second "Well, as you can see, the pool is in back, and refreshments in the fridge and coolers." He gestured towards the kitchen island, now being swarmed by hungry young adults. " There are also some racing in on the GameCube over there, and I will be riding the party wave." He made a wave motion with his arm that Webby mirrored back.

"Guess i'll 'sea' you later" He made finger guns and mimicked gun noises before backing away.

"Wow, impressive Sara. You almost made him crack." Cindy patted her on the shoulder, an unwelcome gesture by her as she brushed her hand off.

" I'm...getting some soda," Sara made her way through the crowd to the coolers, leaving Cindy and Webby alone.

"Do you know Sara, Cindy?"

"Yeah," She said cooly, not missing a beat "soccer in high school. But I doubt she remembers me, I started skipping after the first week."

"Wow…" Webby exclaimed " small world." Cindy was intently looking across the room, blowing the biggest bubble of them all.

"Too small." pop went her gum, " Later." Cindy abruptly off to the other side of the party, not even letting Webby respond. All alone, she thought about how everyone was acting so different from when she first met them. Sara was more aggressive, maybe nerves, she couldn't tell. Cindy seemed more...sociable, but she was at work the first time she met her so, go ? He was charismatic, but... She saw him chatting it up with some guys smiling and laughing… something wasn't right, and she was going to figure out what.

"Webby, do you want cork or pep?" Sara yelled from within the crowd. Webby tried to wade out of her thoughts to respond."They also have Deetos over here!" Yep, that did it.

"I'll just come to you!" she waded in, following her voice.

She'd figure it out... after she got some chips.


	8. Chapter 8: What Thing?

Webby and Sara, smashed into a corner, were eating their sixth bag of chips, Sara doing most of the crammed three chips in her mouth angrily when Webby finally confronted her.

"Sara, are you alright?" She felt guilty. Was this her fault? She had mentioned she hated parties, but she never thought it was this bad. " If...If you want to go we can." Sara looked shocked, trying to chew and swallow the rest of her chips to answer her.

"No! No i'm fine, it's just been a weird day for me."

Weird how? Webby huffed in her thoughts. She was getting tired of all this ambiguity. Webby was about to pry when, " Webby!" A familiar voice called out from behind some faces.

"Giggy?"

"The one and only!" he put his hand up for a high five that Webby almost missed. " Finally, another familiar face! I haven't been able to talk to Dewey for more than two minutes at a time."

"Right?" Sara said randomly,"What's up with that!" Giggy looked over at her slightly confused.

"Hey, I don't think we've met before. I'm Newton, but everyone calls me Giggy."

"Sara Dane." She held out her hand for a handshake and he grasped it firmly. "I go by Sara"

"How do you know Dewey?" He pondered.

"Through a couple of friends, though we've only formally met tonight." she pointed at me.

"Ahh...uh huh?" He was still confused by her hostility towards Dewey, "Well i'm glad you came to this one Webby. He's been hyping this up for weeks on end." he scoffed slightly "Though, when does he not hype things up is the real question." Webby grinned at that fact.

"You know, I thought he told me he had a small youtube channel, but it seems like everyone knows about it…" Giggy was shocked.

"Dewey being modest? Highly improbable. Though…" He eyes Webby for a moment before shrugging. "He has been acting differently recently." He sighed and scanned the room listlessly before spotting Dewey, finally with a free moment He perked up and began to walk his direction before stopping to say goodbye.

"Gotta fly, but hey, catch up with you later? Nice meeting you Sara." He waved to then and made his way across the floor. At least someone's in their right mind tonight...Webby thought, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding. Now it was just her and Sara, and a bag of half empty Deetos.

"Hey, these songs suck. Let's make some friendly suggestions" She stood up straight and swished the bags of chips on the counter into the waste bin by her feet. Webby stuttered.

"Wuh! Uh! Alright!" Webby was pulled to her feet. Clearly Sara's mood had not changed, but they were at least doing something more fun than just slouching in a corner getting flashed in the face by an occasional strobe light.

They weaved their way around people to the DJ stand, where there was a list of suggestions already made. Sara looked over at her, "Favorite song, go!"

"Easy!" Immediately her mind went blank, as it sometimes did. After minutes of sifting through every song in existence, she surrendered to a category. "Ever heard of BABBA?" Sara only held up her finger.

"Say no more."

" Woooooaah, all the things I could be!"

12 song suggestions later, they were standing on the platform in front of the DJ stand, screaming song lyrics to the few that were on the dance floor. The rest of them surrounding the scene were absolutely clueless, and filming the entire thing.

"If I had a couple pennies, we could rule the world!" Webby pointed over to Dewey, gesturing him up to the stand. Some of the cameras pivoted to try and locate who she was pointing to.

"Who are those clowns?" A couple of ducks chortled to each other. "So wierd..." Dewey, upon hearing the disapproval of everyone around him was sweating bullets in a corner. It took all of his willpower to start belting out the lyrics, and it was even harder when he finally saw her calling him over. There was a choice to make, but before he could even make it, her face dropped with her hand, and she kept singing with Sara. He frowned, and laughed awkwardly along with the others.

Webby's looked at Sara, singing aggressively into the crowd. Yeesh. Cindy, who seemed more tolerable than last time was over by who she could only assume was Tony, since Giggy stood at an awkward distance away from them, looking just as alone and uncomfortable as she felt. Dewey was embarrassed of her, and would rather laugh along with the crowd than be himself. And half of the party were throwing judgemental looks in their direction. Being the only homeschooled kid involved in, well everything in her small town, that wasn't new to her. But even she had to admit...

This is already a disaster! Everything is falling apart! As the song came to a close, she gestured to Sara that she had to go to the bathroom and stomped off stage before she could nod. After trying to get directions from five different people who were only giving her sarcastic comments on her singing, she finally got to a bathroom.

Locked, of course. She sighed, and jiggled it again just to make sure. , and right when I realize I actually do need to pee.

As she slumped against the wall to wait, she began to realize why Sara probably preferred to skip these things. She was already tired and barely knew anyone besides Cindy, Sara, Giggy and Dewey. Well, at least she thought she knew Dewey.

Who am I kidding? I've been here less than a week.

After 10 minutes the person had still not left the bathroom.

Are they alright? She knocked on the door. No answer, well, at least not to her.

"You tell me Caroline!" A male voice replied. "You tell me!"

" You're expecting me to know? I was with you the entire time!"

"Right!" he said sarcastically "Not off with Joel or anything"

Huh? Webby could only figure that some domestic dispute was going on.

Why do they have to settle their problems in a bathroom? It's a bathroom not a psychologist's office!

She knocked again, not caring about common courtesy. They only argued louder.

"Don't give me that crap! You've been playing me this entire time! Where is he now!"

She heard a slam and her eyes widened. Her guard went up, was this about to get violent?

" I swear I don't know w-" she heard her scream and something fall to the ground. Webby banged on the door

"Hello! Hello!" she yelled through the door. The screaming continued, more things fell and she heard a thud, like someone had fallen to the ground. At that point, she didn't have to think twice.

BANG!

Down came the cheap door right into the bathroom, hitting the corner of the hot tub before slamming to the ground.

"If you hit her again, next time this fist is hitting your fa-" She quickly realized there was nobody there at all. Well, except for the terrified duck covered only by the tub's high pressure air jets and about five popcorn bag resting on floaties.

Now it was her turn to scream.

" Oh my gosh I am so so SO sorry!" She repeated over and over again averting her eyes, not trusting him enough to cover them with her hand. "I thought that…"

"You think sorry is enough?! You literally almost decapitated me with my own door!"

Your door? She thought quizzically

" I thought someone was being attacked! I was doing what anyone else would have done!"

"Ok, no, no." He shook his head and waved his arm around while covering himself with a popcorn bag before getting a towel. "Any person would not be able to kick a door down number one," he finally grasped it and wrapped it around his waist. "Number two, any person would recognize those screams as The Thing." Webby cocked an eyebrow.

"The thing? What thing" Was this a social phenomenon she didn't know about? He looked less shocked than he did completely disturbed.

"What..What do you mean what thing? The Thing! The movie! The Thing?" She shook her head as he tapered off.

"Oh my god...Did you escape some cult? Secret society? D-" he hesitated "do you have amnesia?" She rolled her eyes.

"I have an overprotective grandmother" She replied, "I've only gotten away with watching foreign horror movies because 'at least I'm learning something'..." she quoted sarcastically. He gasped like a nineteenth century noblewoman. Offended yet pitying.

"Oh you poor deprived girl. You have much, much to learn about american horror." He gestured her to come in and Webby gave him a look, gesturing at his towel and the fact that he was still in a chaotic mess of Dewey's bathroom.

"What." He said flatly before realizing. " Oh! Uh, yeah...be right back." Webby backed the rest of the way out as he hid away from the gaping doorway where the door should've been. As Webby moved down the hall away from the doorway, she wondered if this was just regular life for people or if the entire world was just going completely nuts.

First it was jumping into some stranger's car for a joyride, then taking some tour guide to a party of the guy she made escort her everywhere, and now she's gonna get a culture lesson from some random duck using Dewey's bathtub. Thinking back more on the joyride she came to the conclusion that it wasn't the world going crazy, she was crazy. The duck, with a large bath towel wrapped around his head and a large sweatshirt and sweatpants appeared from another door and motioned her to come over.

Well if she was crazy enough to get her into this insanity, she figured she could get herself out of it whenever she wanted.

How wrong she was.

Heyo! This is shorter than most of my chapters, but I felt like I ended it in a good spot and didn't want to prolong it for some page quota. I feel like everyone is gonna know who this duck is, but feel free to share your guesses in the comments! See you all there and thank you for reading.


	9. Chapter 9: Who?

By the By, for any horror movie enthusiasts out there, this "The Thing" Movie isn't the same as the 1982 The Thing, the sci fi horror film. This is basically a general movie name that I use as a plot device and is in no way related to the actual film. That's all!

"So , this is my room." Webby's eyes nearly bulged out of her head at the scene. She stifled an audible gasp.

"Uh, what's with the pep?" there were at least three different cans of pep on every elevated surface in the room, some even stacked in little pyramids.

"Oh, don't worry I don't drink all of this. Only the first sip, peak carbonation." he elaborated, kicking some clothes and empty chip bags to the side.

 _He's saying that like that makes it less weird…_ Webby shook it off and followed him to the bean bag chairs in front of his TV.

"Ok, So obviously we're gonna watch The Thing first, because it's a flipping classic." He began to flip through his library."I should be able to find it. Just watched it recently" After a minute of silence, the night's events sinking in, Webby made some attempt at small talk.

"So… you're Dewey's brother." Webby fidgeted, staring at the movies floating by on screen.

"Yep. Fraternal." Webby's eyebrows raised in realization.

" Oh! So you're twins?" Louie gave an unsure look, pausing just enough for her to notice.

"Yeah, pretty much." Webby squinted in suspicion.

"Any...other siblings?" Louie adjusted in his seat, switching to search. Maybe he hadn't watched it as recently as he thought.

"Yeah, we don't talk much though. Estranged." In a way Webby understood. She didn't even know if they had any other family that were still alive, or willing to talk to them at least. Honestly she was too busy chasing her own adventures and freedom that she never really found the time to wonder. "So, I'm guessing Dewey invited you over." Louie rolled his eyes slightly.

" He does this often, doesn't he."

"Yeah...but honestly it was my fault. You obviously know about his youtube career and all of that. I suggested he do some networking, maybe throw an event or two, which in "Dewey speak" translates to "party every weekend." He sighed, pressing enter and scrolling through the different movies. " Seems to be working out, you know with his youtube stardom and all that."

"Well, worked." Louie looked confused, and Webby gave him a look back. "You know, his channel ending? Tonight was gonna be his last video."

"Oh, yeah. Right,"Louie waved it off, some sort of emotion passing over his face like lightning. She couldn't tell quite what it was. Confusion? Guilt? Anger? "I remember him saying something about that. I'm dumb." He looked through the options that had popped up, none of them matching up with what he wanted to find.

"Are you kidding! They removed it. How can Etsflix get rid of a classic like that?" He scoffed and switched to another app with his controller. "Whatever, we're just gonna rent it off cable. He clicked a couple of buttons before speaking again. "How'd you meet my dear old brother anyway?"

"At a park, near a friend's restaurant." Louie's eyes widened, lowering the controller a bit in surprise.

" Huh." he chuckled a bit, " Really?" Louie clicked at the keyboard in the search bar. "What was he uh, doing?" Webby figured that he knew about his brother's little hiding spot.

"Recording his inner monologue." They both laughed along to the thought.

"Ohh, ohhmy god. He actually told you? With his pride? Wow…" Louie could barely believe it.

" Well, I didn't recognize him as anyone famous, so that might have been part of it." Webby felt bad laughing at him. Or, did she? He's been totally fake all night, maybe for longer than that, she thought back to the Lazer Tag adventure at Funzo's.

"Still! Huh, not like him at all, but I guess you aren't the typical person either. So, did he invite you to the party to keep you quiet or…" he drawled, expecting her to go on and explain.

"We actually went out on the town after that." Louie's eyebrows raised, keeping the movie he rented on queue to play whenever she was done spilling all the details. "Well, I forced him to, kinda." Louie's eyes squinted suspiciously, moving away from her. "No!" Webby sighed in exasperation. She wasn't good at explaining things, or lying, or...well anything regarding speaking normally.

"Ok, so I pretty much decided to go, and he kinda just rolled with it. We went to a racecar track and Funzo's. That's where I met some of his friends and when they mentioned the party and all that." She decided that all that stuff regarding Granny might just be better left unsaid. " By the end of the night he invited me to come and my friend Sara and I decided to go!" Webby clapped once, finishing her story.

"Wow, that was all yesterday?!" Louie said in surprise, then thinking for a moment about Dewey's personality, and what he knew about Webby. "You know what, why am I even surprised." He clicked on the movie and pressed the pin in to rent it for the night. " So, how was the party, living up to your expectations?" Before she could even think, her answer was already out in the open.

"No?" He echoed, pausing the movie before it started. That wasn't really the answer he was expecting. To be completely honest, he wouldn't have cared, but he was bored out of his mind, and Webby had something heavy on her mind, he could tell.

" I'm sorry! I don't mean any offense, the party is great!" He gave her a doubtful head bob. "Well, materialistically. I don't know what I was really expecting…" She sighed before continuing. " I just thought I'd be able to talk to Dewey like I did that night we went out on the town! It was just awesome, liberating even! It was like he was a real friend." she pushed her hair back from her face.

"But, it just seemed like he's ashamed of me, and every time I look back on our conversations that night I just see it more and again...who can make friends with someone in a day." Louie just stared at her, resting the control on his legs. Well, it wasn't exactly what he was expecting in drama. It wasn't pointless drivel like most reality shows and dramatic events were. This was genuine concern and hurt coming from someone who probably didn't have much experience dealing with sumb social stuff. He was severely underprepared for this kind of situation, but as Louie always did, he winged it.

"Hey, my brother...His ego is the size of Duckburg, despite having a severe inferiority complex, and is a clueless idiot who doesn't know what's good for him. You keep friends that don't judge you right off close," he looked back at the screen, staring slightly beyond it. "even soulless jerks like me know that."

"That...doesn't really make me feel any better." Louie grimaced a bit.

"What I mean to say is, you shouldn't really worry about him. He's good at heart, he'll come around at some point. He just needs time to see what's important I guess." Webby was surprised at his maturity. She was surprised that someone who put popcorn bags on floaties in a hot tub would give her the advice she needed. In that way, she guessed, she was the one that was judging based on looks.

"Let's watch this movie already, i'm already halfway through so we gotta catch up!" The movie booted up like any other old horror movies, beginning credits, low eerie music, fade into the scene. Webby didn't have very high hopes for this film to be honest, that was until the screen started to flicker, then shut off completely.

"Huh?" Louie clicked on some of the buttons. Guess that wasn't actually a part of the movie. The hallway lights had shut off too, groans of disappointment and confusion resonating down the hall. "Ugh, those idiots. Power gone out… Ruining my movie…" He grumbled, getting up and fumbling around for something.

"Oh, sorry Webby, can I get around you?" she turned towards his voice.

"Huh? I haven't gotten up." there was a grave silence, both of them stuck in that moment for a few seconds. Once she processed what was going on, she whipped her phone out of her pocket and illuminated it in the direction of his voice. Louie had a hand on the beagle's shoulder the other shading his eyes from the light. Stunned the beagle had shaded his face with his forearm, gripping a piece of soaked cloth

 _Chloroform_ was all she thought before she wrestled him to the ground. Louie was left screaming, knocking into a table and fumbling for her phone. Webby had managed to toss the cloth aside,slamming her fist into his face blindly.

He managed to escape her grasp and she struggled to find at least one of his limbs to arrest. He overpowered her, nearly smashing her face into a bedpost before the light shined, disabling him long enough for her to strike. Suddenly the room finally lit up with low light emergency lights, lighting the room just enough to see that Webby had knocked the assaulter out.

She finally came to, the adrenaline in her veins clearing up for her to process what else was going on around her. Louie's voice phased in. Him pressed up against the corner of the room, the flashlight he was holding obscuring the fear on his face.

"Oh my god, ohmygod, oh my god,"he muttered over and over in his state of shock. Webby walked over to him, grabbing the phone from his hands and turning the flashlight off.

"Louie, Louie, look at me. Calm down!" Webby made eye contact with him and shook him a bit.

Calm down...Calm down?!" Louie began to shout. "I'm sorry that me getting attacked in my own home after having my peace and privacy invaded by some kung fu prodigy isnt shocking enough to dignify a response!" she ignored him and pulled his tense still shaking body down the hallway.

"We need to get out of here and call the police."

"No, Really?" Louie seethed sarcastically, "Maybe they were here for the party, or maybe some tea!"

"Stop talking." Webby replied coldly, he immediately clamped up and stood in line.

They entered the main room, coming face to face with Sara and Giggy.

"Where in the world were you?!" Sara yelled worriedly. " I was looking all over for you!"

"In the middle of knocking someone out." She said flatly. Webby looked over in Dewey's direction. "Speaking of which, there's an intruder knocked out down that hallway just past that door that's out of its hinges." she looked over at Louie to see if he'd dialed 911 yet.

"What!" Sara squawked. She looked over at Louie, still shell shocked and looking around at all of them frantically. Her face suddenly went from worry to a strong irritation. "I'm sorry,why are you here?" Louie had had about enough of everything.

"Why am I here? This is MY house!" Sara waved off his presence before getting her own hand smacked down by some eagle running for the door at full speed. "I'm so done with these stupid parties…" Dewey was in hot pursuit of the rude stranger.

"Hey! HEY!" He got through the crowd. "That guy tried to mess with the alarm system wiring!" Webby was already on it before the man even made it out of the door.

"Webby! Dewey!" Sara and Louie called out after them, Sara running towards the door in a panic.

"Well, you know what Giggy? I'm just gonna chill here with y-" Before he could even finish his thought, the man from before had pushed his way through the crowd, looking for Louie with his good eye. He placed a hand on Giggy's shoulder and without taking his eyes off the beagle, "On second thought, you call the police, i'll uhhh, i'll be outside." and booked it towards the exit.

Hey all! Been a while. I just wanted to clarify that I started this mostly before Della's character arc and her getting back from the moon. For the sake of the story, Della is still missing and presumed dead...the question is, is she still there at all? (;P) Unfortunately that won't be revealed for a while...oops!


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